by Abel, Regine
While we’d been stingy on spending our resources to make repairs after the battle with Lexot, we now threw all caution to the wind to bring our vessels back to their finest shape for the upcoming war. Better yet, Tabitha had confirmed that one of the allied planets would be delivering additional supplies in the morning, including a brand-new power core for one of the battlecruisers that would serve as the mothership containing most of our Shells.
After visiting our mothers in the liveship, Chaos had requested a few moments to get a grip on his emotions. I had known of the deep affection the Warriors felt for their Soulcatchers, but seeing the state in which he returned from the visit really drove it home. He understood right away what peace our mothers wanted us to grant them. However, he begged us not to do anything until we had brought the liveship to Khepri so that their Warriors could bid them a last farewell. We couldn’t deny them this, especially considering we’d only managed to escape thanks to their assistance. But it also gave us more time. After reaching Arkonia, my brothers and I had collectively agreed to grant ourselves two weeks to try and break through our mothers’ catatonic states. Failing that, we had planned on letting them go, aside from the nine that were currently pregnant. But the Xian Warriors’ request meant a few more weeks.
It was selfish of us, but we tried to assuage our guilt by making sure they felt no physical pain or discomfort.
I was strolling down one of the main paths on my way to the training pit where the children performed daily combat routines—not only to make them perfect warriors, but also to drain them of some of their excessive energy—when Dread made a beeline for me.
“We’ve heard back from Silzi,” Dread said without preamble, while adjusting his steps to mine. “She has found her people but has no way of extracting them on her own. Zekuro is in a complete upheaval. As we suspected, Khutu is setting up massive defenses. But Silzi fears Aitxa will not bother attempting to fight them and merely nuke the planet.”
I shook my head. “She doesn’t have a fleet with that kind of firepower. Khutu made sure of it. He holds her under his thumb right now. Lexot actually screwed the Queen over by showing his hand to earn her favor. Had he made that first move with the joint forces of the other Generals and the Queen’s full reserve, not only would he have caught us, but he might have taken down Khutu before he reached Zekuro.”
“That’s one less thing to worry about,” Dread said with little relief. “Based on the information Silzi has provided, extracting her people will be insanely difficult. Khutu has them beyond well-guarded. Frankly, it sounds like a trap to me.”
“And it could very well be,” I said pensively. “But for whom? Even though he told me about them being held on Zekuro, I don’t see why he would assume I have any kind of allegiance to them.”
“Maybe he thinks you truly want your Mimic Queen?” Dread suggested as we climbed the short stairs to the plateau where the training pit was located.
“When Shuria escaped, she was fully aware of my attraction to Tabitha. She would have told him I had chosen another over her. She did kill me for it,” I said with a shrug.
“Then I can’t quite figure out who else he might be trapping, if it actually is a trap.”
“Indeed. Get as much additional info as you can from her,” I said. “See if she can get her hands on the access codes to any of their defenses. But she’s not to take unnecessary risks. If Khutu catches her—”
The rest of my sentence died in my throat when I noticed Varnog in an intense discussion with my mate near the training pit.
“We’ll continue this later,” I said, my voice thick with worry.
Summoning my wings, I flew straight at them.
“Everything okay?” I asked, landing smoothly next to Tabitha.
Shoulders and back stiff, my mate had clearly not been enjoying whatever that conversation had been about.
“Everything is fine,” Varnog said with his haunting voice, deep, breathy, with an unnatural clicking quality to it.
The vocal cords of the Janaurian host he’d taken over had not been meant for the Kryptid language. But the Scelk parasite that had been Varnog—now fused with the host’s body—couldn’t help but to believe it had that accent.
“I was merely making the acquaintance of our Queen,” Varnog said in that irritatingly provocative tone he always took when testing people.
Now wasn’t the time for his bullshit. Things were still too fragile between Tabitha and me without his meddling. But worse still, with the Xians being reluctant about having the Scelks on Khepri, I couldn’t risk him jeopardizing everything. Even now, Rogue and Reaper—whom Chaos had now all but adopted as his own for being his former Soulcatcher’s sons—were working on the proposal for security measures surrounding our extended family.
“I am not your Queen,” Tabitha said in a slightly clipped tone.
I couldn’t quite say why, but that actually hurt me, even though it had nothing to do with whatever feelings she held for me.
“Oh, but you are,” Varnog insisted with a knowing smile. “The day you became our fearless leader’s Queen, we all became your subjects. Or is the baggage your mate comes with more than you can handle?”
“That’s enough,” I snapped.
“Back off, Varnog,” I warned him telepathically.
Varnog’s face took on the hard edge I knew too well. His psychic mind lurked at the edge of my consciousness, hungry to latch on and fuck with my brain. As an apex alpha, one genetically engineered to be a vicious and mindless killer, he was constantly fighting with the need to dominate and subdue his prey. At the first sign of weakness, he would attack with relentless savagery.
Lifting my chin defiantly, I held his gaze and took a step towards him, daring him to make a move. The alien feel of his psychic mind intensified. My vision began to blur with the first whispers of a mind-trap. I didn’t raise my mental shield or try to repel this semblance of an attack, calling his bluff instead. A sarcastic smile, almost evil in its appearance, stretched his lips as his mind receded from mine. Although I hadn’t truly believed he would have gone through with it, I couldn’t deny my relief when he backed off.
I understood too well fighting against the beastly nature Khutu had forced upon him. Varnog had been the most powerful of the Scelks and the most feral. He had earned my utmost respect by also being the most determined in not letting his savage nature control him. As much as I wished he hadn’t chosen to flex his muscles in front of Tabitha, I could only hope she would see this for what it had been: two alphas having a friendly competition.
Varnog slightly—almost imperceptibly—bowed his head in concession before giving my mate a taunting sideways glance.
“Until next time, my Queen.”
Tabitha frowned as he made a mocking curtsey then turned around and walked away in his fluid, almost gliding gait. His black chitin scales contrasted sharply against the ashen color of the formally albino white skin of his host.
“What the heck was that?” Tabitha asked, a troubled expression on her face.
“The Scelk leader testing you. Whatever you may think of them, the Scelks are very protective of us, and in particular of me. He wanted to assess if you were worthy of me.”
Tabitha gasped in disbelief. I caressed her cheek and smiled affectionately.
“I am the one who isn’t worthy of you. So, that was an easy win,” I said.
“Easy win?” she asked dubiously. “He didn’t seem to be approving all that much.”
“He called you his Queen, three times,” I said with a serious tone. “He considers you worthy, but he will want to know if you feel the same about the rest of them.”
Tabitha looked flattered, embarrassed, and a little uneasy. She was finally realizing that I came with a lot of baggage; nearly thirteen hundred of them—if you included the Mimics we would hopefully free. It was time she fully understood what that entailed. Varnog’s question had been fair. Would she still want me knowing my people were part of the pac
kage? The way things were heating up between us, we would soon reach the point of no return.
I was ready and eager to bind my Queen to me for eternity.
Picking her up like a bride, I spread my wings and took off. Tabitha wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me an inquisitive look.
“It is time you meet the rest of my people—of our people,” I said, giving her a meaningful glance.
Tabitha swallowed hard, her blue eyes widening slightly with understanding. Then her face took on an air of resolve which had my hearts beating a little faster.
My Queen was ready to face the challenge.
Chapter 9
Tabitha
We flew past the training pit and through the large corridor connecting to the other area of the city. It opened onto another large circular room with a massive natural pond. At first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but then I realized there were pale colored beings swimming in the depth of what turned out to be a far deeper pool than I’d initially imagined.
Bane didn’t stop or comment about them, content to head towards one of the two offshoot hallways on the other side of the pool. As we approached the one on the left, two ivory white beings came slithering out from it. They waved at us before making a beeline for the water and diving in.
I hadn’t gotten a good glance at them but, at first, I’d thought them similar to the Aznarians with their naga-like appearance, their snake tails instead of legs, and their reptilian features. However, from a distance, their skin color and texture looked eerily similar to the white dolphin skin of the Janaurians. The flowy angelfish-like fins on their backs, which reminded me of a bridal train when they’d slithered to the water, also clearly marked them for a different species from the Aznarians.
To my surprise, the open room in which we flew appeared to be some kind of weird lab. A few dozen of the strange beings were draining some clear, purple liquid from bulging sacks on their sides. They then passed the vials to another group of their people to process. Once their sacks were depleted, hanging like small, translucent fins on their hips, they slithered back to the water.
“These are the Miegly,” Bane whispered as he hovered near the top of the five-meter-high ceiling. “Or rather, the survivors among the thousands that had been abducted and modified this way; one hundred and sixteen individuals in total. The regular Miegly mostly eat highly poisonous fishes and toxic plants, since they do not have an immune system. They possess a special organ that uses the poisons and toxins to cleanse their bodies of any harmful bacteria or impurity. Occasionally, some are born with an immune system and develop an organ similar to the liver that processes and eliminates all poisons, storing them in a pouch that they drain regularly.”
“Like your Miegly,” I said.
“Correct,” Bane said. “Except, the stored poison is harmless for consumption by other Miegly, only activating when in the presence of a foreign body.”
My eyes widened, unsure I was understanding him right.
“In certain seasons, finding sufficient toxic plants and fishes to keep the tribe healthy can be difficult,” Bane explained.
“So, those without an immune system would drink the poison from sacs of those who did to cleanse their bodies?” I asked, understanding dawning on me.
“Exactly. And the poison would not harm them, but only things it considered foreign. As you can guess, Khutu figured out a way to turn this to his advantage,” Bane said with bitterness seeping into his voice. “He abducted as many of those with an immune system as he could, leaving entire tribes to die of toxic shock and poisoning in the harsh seasons. He then modified the captured Miegly to enhance their natural poison, which they call Crinax.”
“I’m confused. What did he want to use it for? Cure his troops of poisons during battle?” I asked.
Bane snorted with disdain. “No, my love. Khutu doesn’t give a shit about the welfare of his troops. He wants to enhance them offensively. Hundreds of Soldiers died testing his experiment until it succeeded. And then hundreds more of my brothers died over and over again in atrocious agony, only to be reborn and exposed to more of this when he tried Crinax on us.”
Flying down to the ground, Bane landed near one of the large tables of the lab and set me on my feet. Across the table from us, a female Miegly was filling small flasks with an apple-green colored liquid, which appeared to be the result of whatever manipulation she had done to the poison drained from her kin. She smiled gently at Bane and extended one of the flasks to him while giving me a timid look with her pink, reptilian eyes.
Bane took the flask, brought it to his lips, and then paused before looking at me. Slipping his free hand behind my head, he tried to fist my too short hair again, and I couldn’t help but giggle at his frustrated expression. That amusement quickly died when he drew my face to his and captured my lips in a searing kiss that had my knees feeling wobbly in a blink. I would never tire of the conquering way his tongue always took charge and of the divine taste of him. Still, my cheeks burned with embarrassment when he released me only to have three dozen pairs of reptilian eyes staring with undisguised curiosity and amusement.
“I won’t be able to kiss you for half-an-hour after I drink this,” Bane explained in response to my disapproving glare.
He raised the flask in front of him like you would a glass of wine for a toast, then swallowed its contents. His throat worked, then a familiar cracking sound rose from his back as he partially morphed to summon the two scorpion tails on his shoulder blades. They were similar to those of the Xian Warriors, aside from the hollow tips of the stingers.
Taking my hand, he led me to the opposite side of the roughly rectangular room and stopped a couple of meters away from the rock wall. Ever curious, the Miegly approached to bear witness, while keeping a non-intrusive distance from us. My own curiosity had me feeling antsy.
“It takes a moment for my body to process the poison,” Bane said, smirking at my obvious impatience.
I wanted to both kick him and kiss him. But more importantly, I loved seeing him this relaxed and happy, even if only for a brief instant. In the past few days, I’d come to realize Bane wasn’t a grumpy, brooding, socially challenged jerk, but a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Being able to give him these few moments of reprieve felt wonderful.
“Remember the battle on Janaur?” Bane asked.
“All too well,” I replied, repressing a shudder at the memory of the insane Drone Swarm crashing down on us in endless waves. I had been certain we would all die that day.
“I had shot darts from my scorpion stingers,” Bane said.
I nodded, remembering how impressed I’d been with the incredible velocity and force of impact of the darts. They’d pierced through the chitin armor of the Drones with the ease of a heated knife through butter.
“Here’s what happens when you throw a little bit of Crinax into the mix,” Bane said with a taunting glimmer in his eyes.
His scorpion tails, naturally arced over his shoulders, slightly recoiled as he fired a dart from each hollow tip. The black darts, the size of my thumb, embedded themselves into the rock face with a clapping sound followed by a hiss. The contour of the hole bubbled and seemed to smoke.
“Oh, my God!” I whispered. “Is that acid?”
Bane nodded smugly. “A form of it, yes. When the Crinax comes in contact with enemies, it tries to destroy everything, eating them from the inside out like acid. But it doesn’t work very well on inert matter. The reaction you saw here is due to the moisture, fungus, and whatever bacteria or microorganisms were on that rock. Without something organic, or some kind of fluid—even water—to keep it going, the Crinax will lose its properties and evaporate.”
“Does it work with your mouth darts as well,” I asked, impressed.
“Yes. It also affects the acid I spit,” Bane explained. “But it wears off after a couple of hours, sooner if I heavily use my abilities affected by it.”
“Would it enhance the Xian
Warriors the same way?” I asked, my mind racing.
“More than likely, yes,” Bane said as his scorpion tails receded into his back. “Khutu gave the Miegly traces of both Gomenzi Dragon and Kryptid DNA so that their Crinax would not perceive us as foreign. Except, it backfired when he gave them Dragon DNA because the poison no longer accepts Kryptid DNA alone. When the Soldiers tried to drink Crinax again after that, it was like someone had poured sulfuric acid down their throats.”
I burst out laughing at the macabre picture this evoked in my head. Bane’s cruel smile as he reminisced should have freaked me out, but I totally shared the sentiment. I would have given anything to have seen Khutu’s face once he realized he could no longer use this tool with the majority of his army.
“The Xians have both Kryptid and Gomenzi DNA,” Bane continued. “But it would be best they all try it first in a safe environment with a Shell on standby. The Miegly are building us a massive reserve for the war. There will be more than enough to share with the Warriors.”
I nodded, excited by this powerful new weapon in our arsenal, although it saddened me that it should have come to us at such a high cost to the Miegly. It also lifted my spirit to see how peaceful the survivors appeared to be, in keeping with the original nature of their people. Unless they had some deep dark secret Bane hadn’t shared yet, their joining us on Khepri wouldn’t be perceived as a security threat, but as a great addition to our offensive assets.
“Thank you,” I said with heartfelt gratitude to the Miegly, though I imagined they relished the idea of turning Khutu’s weapon against him for what he’d done to them and their people.