by Roxie Ray
I growled low and took off at a run. The Valkredian saw me coming at the last moment and spiraled out of the way, but not before I had managed to grab one of his wings. He roared in pain as I ripped the wing from his body. Taking advantage of his anger, I punched him right in his open mouth, and I had the satisfaction of seeing his eyes roll back before closing entirely.
“Finish him off,” I told Coran, before turning back into the heart of the fight.
I was just about to land a punch on the last remaining Mana when a ripping pain scored through my head. My legs buckled, and I dropped to my knees as the pain became more insistent and more invasive.
I had experienced this kind of pain before. I opened my eyes a fraction and saw that all my protectors were on their knees as well, trying to fight the same pain I was feeling.
And then, almost abruptly, it stopped. I took in deep, hungry breaths and struggled to get back on my feet. When I turned around, I saw a new Sives member had entered the ship. This one was a Xehrulian I recognized.
“Philzar,” I spat.
“King Quatix.” Philzar smiled as he glanced at the dead bodies of the Sives that littered the floor. “You have laid waste to our warriors.”
I glanced around, too, realizing that all my protectors were still alive, having sustained only minor injuries. “Your warriors are no match for mine,” I hissed.
There were only three Sives members left standing, and all of them growled in fury at my insult.
Philzar nodded, seemingly unaffected by their reaction. “Perhaps, yet here you stand, about to be taken prisoner.”
“Like hell we —”
Before I could finish my sentence, I felt Philzar try to penetrate my mind once more. He had built a reputation for himself as a merciless and powerful telepath, and I was starting to understand why.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Philzar said pleasantly, as my protectors moved forward threateningly. “Another step, and I will destroy your king’s mind.”
I gritted my teeth and tried to push back against his attack. I felt sweat form in beads along my forehead. My scales erupted with hot, searing pain, and my hands balled into fists again. I had always been a strong telepath myself, but Philzar made me feel like a child playing at the art of mind control. I roared with effort, but Philzar only laughed.
Through the spots of light that were forming before my eyes, I saw dozens more Sives members walk into the solar through various entrances. They all wore protective bodysuits. We were outnumbered three to one. Even if I did manage to throw off Philzar’s hold on me, we had no hope of surviving those odds.
“Now,” Philzar said commandingly. “On your knees, King of Svante. Be an example to your men, unless you want to see them die in front of you.”
I narrowed my eyes at Philzar, unable to withstand the force of his mental attack.
I will kill you one day, I communicated to him wordlessly, through the forced link he had made between our minds. That is a promise.
Then I sank to my knees.
17
Rosa
“Put me down, God dammit!” I screamed, beating at Comadin’s back with my fists.
“Shh,” Comadin said urgently. “Be quiet, we don’t know who’s lurking around the corner.”
“We can’t just leave,” I sobbed, feeling as though my heart was going to burst. “We can’t just leave.”
Comadin moved into a dark passageway and shoved me into a small room. His head was almost brushing the ceiling. I noticed that there was a small bed pushed to one corner of the space. It was clean and well-kept, but unlike the rest of the ship.
“Where are we?” I demanded.
“Staff quarters,” Comadin replied dismissively. “You need to calm down.”
My jaw jutted out instinctively. “I have to go back.”
“No, you do not.” Comadin’s eyes were bright with determination, and I knew that the only way I could get my way was by convincing him to take me back.
“I am your queen, you have to listen to me,” I said, playing the queen card shamelessly.
“I have to listen to my king, as well,” Comadin pointed out. “And he commanded me to get you out of here.”
I sighed deeply and turned my back on him. “What if something happens to him?”
“Quatix is one of the best fighters in Svante,” Comadin assured me. “The Sives are no match for him.”
“He has only eight men with him,” I pointed out. “How are they going to take on three spaceships worth of Sives?”
“My Queen, please,” Comadin begged. “We have to get off the Zernike. If we linger much longer, the Sives might catch up to us. You cannot fall into their hands.”
I closed my eyes and tried to stay calm. My thoughts felt like they were spinning further and further away from sanity. I remembered the last time I had felt this way. I had been experiencing all the gut-wrenching symptoms that were associated with withdrawal. I had done so much work to wean myself off of the drugs and yet here I was, falling apart at the idea of leaving Quatix. Apparently he was my drug now.
“I’ve lost too many loved ones, Comadin,” I said. “I can’t lose Quatix, too.”
“Rosa,” Comadin’s voice was soft, but the fact that he had used my name and not my title made me look up at him. His eyes were a warm brown, and they made the gold of his scales sing a little brighter. “We cannot leave Svante as it is now. We need to go back and secure it. Your duty is not just to Quatix — it is to all the Svantian people.”
I felt myself shiver with the weight of that responsibility. I nodded slowly. “Okay,” I agreed at last.
He took my hand and led me out of the small, dark room. We walked down the narrow passageway and into a small, open space that led to an elevator.
“Where does this lead?” I asked.
“To the escape pods,” Comadin replied, pressing the button to activate the elevator.
We rode up in silence, and when the doors opened, Comadin walked out first and looked around cautiously. After a moment, he gestured me forward.
“Stay behind me at all times,” he said in a low voice.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The Sives have come through here,” he replied. “We need to be careful.”
I was intensely aware of the blaster gun and the shield I was holding on to. I had hoped I wouldn’t need to use either, but that hope was quickly becoming less and less realistic.
We moved carefully down the well-lit pathways, but there was a sense of foreboding lurking in our every step. I kept hearing the sounds of a distant fight, but I wasn’t quite sure if that was just my fear-induced imagination. Every so often, I turned back and looked over my shoulder in the vain hope that Quatix had quelled the attack and was coming for me.
“Are we close?” I whispered to Comadin.
“Almost,” Comadin nodded.
We took a few more steps, and then I heard a noise that made me freeze in place. Comadin reached behind and grabbed my hand as he turned slowly.
“Going somewhere?”
The hairs on my arms rose instantly as I caught sight of an alien I had never encountered before. His outward appearance was human, but he possessed many characteristics that were more animalistic. His eyes were large and owl-like, and his irises had a strange and sinister crimson tinge to it. I could see two massive fangs protruding from either side of his mouth, and if I squinted really hard, I could make out a strange pattern of leopard-like spots that coated his pale, milky skin.
His eyes were fixed on Comadin for a moment, but then they flickered to me. “Another Earthling,” he said, in a tone that mimicked laughter. “How wonderful. Earthlings have the sweetest blood I have ever tasted.”
My skin crawled at his words, and I realized why he looked so familiar. He looked like a deadlier version of the vampires that Earth often depicted in movies and books.
“Let us pass, Valkredian,” Comadin said forcefully, “and I may let you live.”
“Loo
k at that heart-shaped face,” the strange being replied, paying no attention at all to Comadin’s threat. “So soft, so delicious.”
I flinched, and Comadin stepped right in front of me, a living shield that separated me from the vampire creature before us.
“You cannot touch her, Mored,” a raspy voice said, moments before its owner turned the corner and revealed himself to us. He had the same physical characteristics — long fangs, pale skin, and red-tinged eyes — but his leopard-like spots were barely visible to me. “She is the new Queen of Svante. She is more valuable to us alive.”
“Then let us at least feast on the other Earthling,” Mored said. “I’ll bet her blood tastes like nectar.”
I sensed Comadin tense, and cold fear gripped at my chest. “What other Earthling?” I demanded, stepping out from behind Comadin.
He grabbed me and pushed me back, but I refused to hide behind him like a frightened child. I pulled my hand away and stared at the vampire aliens with disgust.
“What other earthling?” I repeated.
“She has spirit.” Mored smiled approvingly. “How lovely, I like it when they struggle while I feast.”
I cringed back as Mored’s companion laughed. I realized that his was not the only laughter carrying through the walls of the ship. There were more of them coming. I took a step back as four more aliens appeared from around the corner. Between them stood two prisoners who had been bound by thin chains.
“Sophia,” I gasped, at the same time Comadin said, “Brags.”
Brags’ eyes went wide as he caught sight of me, and Sophia paled as her mouth formed my name.
“You lot thought you were so smart,” Mored said, rolling his eyes. “Trying to fool us by sending these two off in the royal spaceship. Well, King Bis’er saw it coming. He sent half our forces after them, and the rest were meant to guard Lyrae’s wormhole in case anyone else discovered the location of the vuter. Now we have control of both your spaceships.”
My eyes darted between Brags and Sophia. Brags was being held in place by two large Xehrulians, and Sophia’s goalers were purple-skinned aliens with three eyes resting on the top of their heads.
I sensed Comadin shift on his feet a little, and when I glanced at him, I noticed that he had a strange look on his face. It was almost like he was having a conversation with someone, except that he wasn’t actually saying a word. I followed his gaze and saw it resting uneasily on Brags.
I remembered everything Sophia had told me about Svantians and their ability to read minds. I knew many of them were experts in barricading their thoughts against other mind readers, and if that were the case, then it stood to reason they could take down those barricades to exchange thoughts when needed.
Brags and Comadin were concocting a plan of escape, and I held my breath, praying that none of the Sives would figure this out in time to foil their plan. I glanced towards Mored and decided that the best way to keep them distracted was to keep him talking. It seemed like he really enjoyed having an audience.
“You have the Imperial Destroyer?” I asked.
Mored cocked his head to the side. “Indeed we do. How do you think we got here? We ambushed your friends, took control of their ship, and flew it through the wormhole.”
“Stop wasting time,” one of the Xehrulians barked. “Seize those two, the king will want to question them.”
“No!” I said, at the top of my voice.
Everyone froze, and the Sives looked at me with expressions that were both incredulous and impressed.
“No?” Mored asked pleasantly.
With my shield tucked under one arm, I lifted my blaster gun and aimed it at Mored. “I will shoot.”
“Then shoot,” he said. “Those guns have no effect on us anymore, not with these suits.”
I had barely registered the bulky black suits that the Sives were wearing, but now that he had drawn my attention to them, I realized that there was obviously some sort of protection harnessed into the suit. I didn’t care. I put my hand on the trigger and pulled hard.
The bullet shot through the air, knocking me backwards by a few feet. Thankfully, Comadin reached out and grabbed me just before I fell. The commotion created the perfect distraction, and several things happened at the exact same moment:
Brags knocked back one of his guards with a swift elbow knock to the face. Without missing a beat, he swirled around and sent his knee flying into the second guard’s stomach. While the Xehrulian was bent over in pain, Brags grabbed the slim black rod that was hidden within the alien’s belt, and it came to life in Brags’ hands. It looked suspiciously like a light sabre, and when he struck the Xehrulian with it, his body convulsed in pain and dropped to the floor.
Comadin rushed to Brags’ aid and managed to punch Mored in the face before turning to Brags and cutting away his chains with one sharp swing of his sword. Sophia ducked low and ran towards me with her hands still clasped together by the thin ropes they had bound her with. I grabbed her in a full body hug, and together we backed away from the fight as I looked around desperately for something I could use to remove her chains.
“I have a knife,” Sophia said urgently and out of breath. “It’s in my left boot.”
I bent down and found it in next to no time. Then I straightened up, and Sophia parted her hands as far as the chains would allow so that I could make the cut a little easier. It took me four tries, but on the fourth go the chain fell away, and Sophia rubbed her wrists gratefully before I put the dagger back in her hands.
“Thank —”
Before she could finish the sentiment, her eyes went wide and she pushed me out of the way. I narrowly missed the hands of the other Valkredian, whose eyes were wild with ambitious intent.
“Come now, pretty Queen,” he hissed, circling me like a hungry predator. “This will be a lot easier if you just come with me.”
Sophia grabbed my hand, and the two of us backed up against the balcony wall. We could have tried to run, but I had a feeling that this alien would catch up to us easily enough.
The Valkredian bared his glistening fangs, and I cringed back. My eyes darted around, looking for some way we could fend off this persistent alien. Comadin and Brags were close, but they had their hands full with the other five aliens.
“There’s no point in fighting me,” the Valkredian said, licking his lips as he came forward menacingly. “Mored was right, how delicious must the two of you taste?”
“Too bad you’ll never find out,” I said, deciding to act on instinct. Using my shield as a weapon, I smashed it into the vampire alien’s face. He was not expecting me to fight back, and his nose took the brunt of the attack. Red-black blood oozed from his face as he fell backwards, blinking in confusion.
“Bitch!” the other Valkredian screamed, as he noticed his friend lying on the floor in front of us.
He launched himself at us, but Brags was just behind him. He grabbed Mored by the neck and sent him hurtling into the opposite wall.
“Run!” Brags said to Sophia and I. “Go no. Don’t waste any time.”
Sophia hesitated, her eyes thick with worry. “But —”
“Do not argue with me,” Brags screamed as he ducked an attack from one of the three-eyed aliens. “There’s no time. We’ll keep them occupied. Just get Rosa out of here.”
With conflicted eyes, Sophia grabbed my hand and started running, forcing me to keep up. We turned the corner into a narrow passageway that curved a little at the end. Sophia kept running, and I followed behind, glancing back in panic at every little sound, scream, and grunt that carried towards us.
Finally, we came to a large area where a series of doors made up one side of the wall. I realized that each door led into a little escape pod that was built into the ship in such a way that they could detach at a moment’s notice for a quick getaway.
Sophia rushed to a random door and pushed a button to the side. The door slid open easily to reveal a tiny control panel in front of two rows, each of which had tw
o seats apiece.
“Come on Rosa, get in,” Sophia told me.
I didn’t have time to think. I just did as she said and got into the escape pod. Once we were both sitting down, Sophia turned her attention to the significantly smaller control panel in front of us. The panel looked far simpler than those I had seen so far, but I still couldn’t make heads or tails out of it. Thankfully, Sophia seemed to know what she was doing. She pressed three different levers, before pushing her palm down on a large flat black button.
When nothing happened, I glanced at Sophia nervously. The expression on her face made the hope wither inside me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“This can’t be happening,” she said, her eyes darting around the pod in panic. “Sophia?”
“The Sives,” she growled. “They’ve damaged the internal rigging of the pods. There’s no way we’ll be able to fly these things off into space. They’ve made sure no one could get off this ship without their say so.”
“Fuck,” I breathed, feeling the noose tightening around my neck. “What do we do now?”
“We get out of this pod and find a place to hide,” Sophia said as she nudged me out of the pod. “Do you have any weapons on you?”
“Just my blaster gun and the shield,” I replied. “But the guns don’t seem to work on the Sives.”
“Because of those God-awful black suits they’re wearing,” Sophia said bitingly. “What a bunch of sad sacks.”
If I hadn’t been so terrified, I might have laughed at her insult towards the Sives.
We stayed close together as we made our way through the ship. Sophia had seen the blueprints for the Zernike while it was being built, so she had a pretty good understanding of the spaceship’s inner layout. I noticed she kept a firm grasp on the dagger she had hidden away in her boot. It seemed to be her only weapon. I kept my shield at the ready as we moved close to the walls.
Just then I heard the sound of a low grunt, and then cackling laughter. I felt my insides turn with the thought that the Sives had managed to subdue Brags and Comadin. I just hoped that if that were the case, the Sives had decided to keep them as prisoners rather than kill them.