by Stella Sky
“I know you must go. I will be brave for the both of us” she said rubbing her belly. “I will be strong for the Draqua here,” she said.
“No one must know that I am gone. Jix is going to cover for me and say that I am very busy with the rebuild, handling plans inside my chambers. You must stick with that story too,” I said.
“I don’t like the way this sounds. I’m starting to get scared. Exactly what are you getting into?” she asked.
“I am going to Tiok,” I said.
“Tiok! We almost died there. Why are you going back there?” she asked.
“There is someone there that I need to see. It is very important to the future of all Draqua,” I said.
“Just try to stay away from that lake,” she said.
“Yes, I remember. I will stay away from there,” I said. I kissed her goodbye and Baca and I were on our way to Tiok. I could not believe that I was searching for a traitor that my father considered to be his most trusted advisor.
“Where are we?” Baca asked as we landed the ship on the rocky cliffs, the same cliffs where I had made love to Melody.”
“We are outside the village of Pacu. It is west. See that lake over there?”
“Yes,” Baca said.
“Stay away from there. There is a creature that likes to pull you into the water, and he also comes on land,” I said.
“Noted,” Baca said laughing.
“From here we will fly into the village under darkness. I know my way. You ready to follow me?” I said.
“Yes. Let’s do this,” he said.
“I don’t know how prepared I am to look him in the eyes, but I know it is what my father would want me to do,” I said.
“Yes, I think so too. I think you are doing the right thing.”
Baca and I flew to the outskirts of the village. Then we took on large cloaks and pulled the hoods over our heads. Now we blended in with all the other aliens in the area.
“This way,” Baca said. “We saw him this way last time.”
I followed him to the center of one of the many markets. “That is why humans and aliens should not mix! It is not what was intended for any of you! Mixing Draqua with alien will kill off all the Draqua! The hybrids are young and indulgent. They know nothing of self-sacrifice!” a familiar voice shouted as the crowd cheered him on. I went to the back of the crowd. Baca looked at me. I looked at the speaker that had the attention of a few Draqua and more diverse aliens than I had ever seen in my life. The Draqua that was giving the speech was the reason that I was here. It stung to see him up there. He was betraying my father, and he probably had been doing so his entire life in service to my father. The Draqua was Candris. He was my father’s right hand and my father had sent him to an outpost to work for him. I wondered if he had just vanished from the position or was going between his post and this post to run the opposition. Now it all made so much sense. I looked at Baca and nodded. Baca disappeared to deliver my message. When we were done, we waited on the cliffs by the lake with the monster.
“Cylo! I am surprised to see you here, son,” he said with a smile.
“And I am surprised that you can betray my father the way you have. It was you all along, wasn’t it?” I sneered at him.
“Yes and no. Your father was a good king, but it wasn’t enough. Then the opposition appeared, and I shared the same views, so it was only natural for me to take control of that group and turn it into something big. I knew the most about your father and the kingdom, working with him all those years, and I knew how to bring it all down.”
“Well, you failed, Candris. The kingdom still stands, and I rule over it,” I said proudly.
“Does it? Your father is gone, and your brother turned on you.”
“Shit! Now it makes sense. How could you do it? You were like a second father to us. You are the one that got to Greia. You convinced him to believe what you wanted him to believe!” I shouted at him.
“Yes, it was easier than I thought it was going to be. He was of a weak mind. He was very jealous of you, but he did love you. It took time to make his jealousy overshadow the love, and when it did, he was ready to be taken over. I was going to have him overthrow the king and then I would join him at his side and eventually get rid of your brother too,” Candris said.
“Why? Everything is going so well in our village and on Kelon, and we should not have the fear that you have brought upon us,” I said.
“I did it because of the humans, Cylo. The humans do not have a place with us. You do not know them like I do. They are ruthless. When they discover our existence and that we have been taking human females, they will retaliate, and their retaliation will destroy all of Kelon.”
“The humans?! There is nothing to fear there. They do not know of our existence.”
“No, but they will, and you will be the reason for it. That is why I must stop you, all of you,” he said. He pulled off his cloak, and he shifted into a purple dragon. I threw off my cloak and Baca and I both flew in opposite directions. Candris came after me. I zig-zagged all over the place as he shot streams of fire at me. Candris was an older and stronger dragon. His range was very far. “I know what I am going to do with you,” I whispered to myself.
I lead him to the side of the lake on the shore, the same shore where the monster from the lake had grabbed me. I faced the lake and landed on the sand. I backed up away from the lake. Candris landed in front of me as I slowly walked backward.
“This is the end for you, Prince Cylo!” he shouted. His dragon voice was thick and harsh. He was one of the few elder Draqua that could speak while in full dragon form.
“It’s King Cylo now!” I shouted to him.
“Not for long,” he shouted. He took a step toward me. Boom! The ground shook. I looked at the pebbles that shook on the ground. This was a good thing. Boom! He took another step.
“Say goodbye, Candris. You will hurt me and my family no more,” I said.
The dragon let out a hearty laugh. But then… Whoosh! Large tentacles wrapped around the purple dragon. In seconds the dragon was being crushed in the lake serpent’s jaws. Then the creature dragged the dragon into the water. I flew up into the air as soon as I could so as not to be its next meal. I flew straight up to the cliff where Baca was waiting.
“What the hell was that?” Baca said.
“It’s an old friend,” I said.
Boom! Bam! “What the hell?!” I shouted as I saw a ship get into range and shoot at us. “Go! Hide!” I shouted as we flew quickly into the rock and hid in the brush.
Boom! Our ship was blown to pieces. Another ship landed on the cliffside. Three Draqua emerged. They were looking for Candris. I looked at Baca. He whispered to me “If we don’t take care of this now, then they too will be a problem later.”
I nodded yes to him. We waited until the Draqua were close. Then “Aah!” we charged at them. A full fight broke out.
“Why are they not shifting?!” I shouted at Baca when I got close enough to him as I flew by.
“I don’t know,” he said. We fought, and we fought hard, until there was only one left. The Draqua threw its blaster gun and threw its hands in the air.
“Get on the ground!” I shouted to it. The Draqua laid on the ground and Baca and I flew to it, landing on the cliffs.
“What is your name?” I asked.
“Yeqit,” it said.
“Why did you and your friends not shift? It is a much fairer fight that way,” Baca asked.
“Because we can’t shift,” he said. Baca and I looked at each other stunned.
“What do you mean? Do you mean you cannot shift into full dragon? Are you hybrids with humans?” I asked.
“No, I mean we cannot shift at all. We cannot shift into full dragon, and we cannot shift into hybrid like you. We are not human,” he said.
“Holy shit. What the hell is going on out here in Tiok?” Baca whispered to me. I sighed. I had no idea, but this could not be good.
“If you are n
ot with human, are you full Draqua?” I asked.
“No,” he said.
“Then what? Stop fucking around and tell us!” Baca shouted.
“We are hybrid with Aeriwana,” he said.
“What?! No!” I shouted. “Fuck!”
“Yes, Candris has been overseeing the breeding program,” he said.
“Candris…why would he do such a thing?” I said.
“You will have to ask him yourself,” the Draqua said. I looked back at the lake; that was not going to happen.
“It is a little late for that,” I said to myself. Then the Draqua began to speak. “Maybe it is too late for you too. Since you are going to fight to the death. Fight now,” he said.
“What?” I laughed. “Don’t be absurd.”
Bam! Baca hit me on the jaw.
“Baca what the fuck!” I said holding my sore jaw. I saw the look in Baca’s eyes. He was not there. “Oh shit! Baca, snap out of it,” I shouted.
I could hear the Draqua on the ground laughing. “Hit him.”
“No! Don’t do it!” I shouted. I realized that this Draqua that was mixed with the alien race of Aeriwana had the same powers that I did. He had mind control, but I was only able to use it on humans, and not other Draqua. It seemed that Candris was purposely trying to breed a super Draqua. I knew what I had to do. I grabbed a big stone off the ground and flew straight up into the air. Baca followed and I had to use evasive flying to stop him from hitting me. I flew straight down. Bam! I hit the Draqua’s head with the stone. Baca landed on the rocks. “What the hell just happened?” he said.
“Shit. This Draqua had mind control, and he was using it on you,” I said
“What? I thought that did not work on other Draqua?” Baca said.
“So did I. It does not work for me, but it seems to work for these Draqua that are crossed with Aeriwana. This is what Candris was doing out here. He was using the diverse alien races that live on this planet to create a Draqua that he can use as a weapon, and persuasion is a very powerful weapon,” I said.
“Shit. We better get out of here before more come,” Baca said.
“Good idea. Looks like we will be taking their ship back,” I said. We climbed into the ship and made our way back to Kelon.
“When we arrive, tell no one what we have discovered except for Jix. I do not want to create panic among the Draqua on Kelon. They are barely starting to trust each other again, and I don’t want them to think they have to be wary of a new breed of Draqua that can make them do things they don’t want to do.”
“I understand,” Baca said.
It was a stressful voyage. I had to face a close friend and someone I considered to be a second father only to discover that he was a traitor. He was the cause for it all. He was the cause of the opposition uprising, and now I did not see that cause going away. It was only getting stronger. Then I had to deal with the new information that there was a new Draqua out there that was more dangerous than any I had ever known. I wondered how long it would be before they showed up on Kelon. It was probably only a matter of time
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
MELODY REEVES
I was worried as I always was when Cylo was not with me. He had a habit of doing this. First, he left me on that cliffside when he went to jump back in the water to get gold from his ship with a monster trying to kill him. Then he left me on the island of Kila alone as he fought his brother. Both times he had me terrified that he was going to die, and now I was worried again. He had been gone for three days.
“He will be fine. He and Baca are a good team. There is nothing to worry about,” Jix said as he whispered to me.
“I know I just can’t help it. That planet is very dangerous. I’ve seen what lives there,” I said.
There was a knock at the door. “Who goes there?” Jix shouted.
“It is Umbvo Corist,” the fisher Draqua said through the door.
Jix opened the door just a crack and said. “Umbvo, this will have to wait. The king is very busy for the next couple of days. I will call for you when he is ready to see you.”
“But it cannot wait. There is a problem with the fisheries on the south side of the island,” I heard him say.
“Show him to the throne room, Jix,” I said.
“What my queen?” he asked.
“Show him to the throne room. I’ll hear his problem and see if I can be of help,” I said.
“But…”
“Just do it,” I said. Minutes later, I was wrapped in long robes. I was not going to wear the island loincloth and tube top bikini with a sheer dress in my pregnant state. I sat in the throne room and listened to the fisherman’s problem. I offered up a solution, and Jix listened. He agreed with it. I put the solution into action, and before I knew it, I had seen four more Draqua and helped to resolve their problems. It felt good to be of service and to help instead of sitting on my butt all day. Then I realized something, thinking about all the time that I had stayed away from politics with my father. Here I was now actually doing exactly that: practicing politics. I laughed to myself. He would be proud of me.
The next day was another excruciating waiting game. Then a gust of wind hit my face. I looked up to see Cylo standing on the veranda.
“Cylo! Thank god! I’m so happy to see you!” I said as I walked to him and threw my arms around him.
“Mmm… it is good to see you,” he said hugging me.
“I thought you might be hurt. I’ve been so worried,” I said.
“I promised you that I would return, and I always do,” he said kissing me on the forehead. Then he moved into the chambers. “What happened?” I asked.
“A lot. Where is Jix?” he asked.
“He is standing guard outside the door today. I needed a little privacy this morning,” I said as he gave me a look like he was not happy that Jix was not in the same room with me. I was very aware of the dangers that anyone could fly onto the veranda, but I needed privacy! I was a pregnant woman!
“I will tell you everything, but let me get Jix,” he said. He returned with Jix, and they quietly spoke.
“We found Candris, and it is much worse than we thought. He was not only leading the opposition, but he was doing more than that,” Cylo said.
“What was he doing?” I asked.
“He was creating a mating program of sorts with Draqua. He was crossing them with other alien species to see what happened,” Cylo said.
“What? That is insane. How long was he doing this?” Jix asked.
“Years, judging by the fully grown Draqua we encountered that were mixed with Aeriwana,” Cylo said.
“Aeriwana! What?” Jix said.
“Yes, keep your voice down. There is a big problem. The Draqua we encountered mixed with Aeriwana had my powers of persuasion,” Cylo said.
“Mind control?” I asked.
“Yes, exactly, only this one used it on Baca,” Cylo said.
“Holy shit,” Jix said.
“Exactly,” Cylo said.
“So what now?” Jix asked.
“We have to keep an eye on it. These Draqua are too dangerous to be around. One was able to make Baca turn on me with a few words.”
“What? Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes, I am fine, and Baca is fine. We got away and killed that Draqua but I am sure there are more like it. We did not stick around to find out.”
“Anything else?” Jix asked.
“Yes. These Draqua could not shift. They looked like us, but they could not shift to full dragon or hybrid,” I said.
“That hardly makes them Draqua,” Jix said. “Where’s the dragon?”
“I know, but they look like us, which means they could walk among us. So keep an eye out for anyone that you have never seen shift,” Cylo said. “Until then we will have to figure out another way to deal with these Draqua from Tiok. For now, Candris is no more, and that should be plenty for now.
It was a heavy talk, and I had to admit that it had me very scared
. The deep space politics was full of backstabbing and opportunists just like on Earth, but here there was magic, and it made it so much more dangerous. We tried to put the haunting notion of mind controlling Draqua that were out to kill us out of our minds as much as we could. We could not go living in fear forever. So we went on with our daily lives, and my new life as queen.
Months later, it was as if the battle never happened. The Draqua began to trust each other again, and they were a lively village. But I think what also gave them hope was the birth of a new generation of royalty.