by Calista Skye
The way to the king was clearly marked, because there was a grand and ostentatious hallway that stretched on for hundreds of yards, with smaller corridors leading off it to each side.
Olivia and Ator'aq walked along it with their swords ready, prepared for an ambush from any direction And the ambushes did come, but they seemed ill prepared, and they easily fended off the attackers.
“This is too easy,” Olivia said. “They've left the king unguarded.”
Ator'aq chuckled beside her. “Easy? To anyone but us, this would have been entirely impossible. My men only survived that first wave because you and I were in front with our swords.”
“Yeah, so maybe I shouldn't ask now, of all times, but why is it that only you and I seem able to fight as well as we do? I mean, my sword seems to glow when I do. And yours too, but not any other ones. Is it that my sword is especially good?”
“No, it's because of you. The aliens that made the swords for us were good smiths and makers of things, but they weren't good fighters. They saw that we Braxians were, and they marveled at it. They decided to make for us the best swords they knew how. Their chief told me privately that they had special powers that would only become obvious when the sword was wielded by someone who was absolutely vital to our victory. So far, only my sword did that. When Boniar told me about your importance, I was pretty sure you would be the other. And so it proved. It's that simple.”
“And still pretty weird. How do the swords know?”
The king chuckled again. “Olivia, you have never left your own solar system. I have been to many, inhabited by aliens so weird and incomprehensible that I don't have the words to describe them. And I have seen so many strange and impossible things that this one doesn't even rank in the top ten. The Ethereals themselves seem much stranger to me.”
“Yes,” a velvety voice said behind them, and they both whipped around. “We seem so strange to everyone. And yet, isn't the whole universe ours to play with? I think it's everyone else who is strange.”
Denibael was alone, and he was holding something in one hand. It looked like a large, red lollipop. Olivia peered at it, and her visor enlarged the object. It was the remains of a human arm, with the Ethereal king holding the two white bones like the stem of a flower. The thumb and forefinger were missing, and the three remaining fingers stood stiffly up from the palm. While they watched in stunned silence, Denibael gaped over one finger and bit it off with a sickening crunch.
He smiled with teeth that were suddenly triangular and razor sharp. “This one was alive until recently. It's hard to keep them alive beyond half of them being devoured. Well, we all have our problems. I like to save one of the hands for last, because then they still have some individuality. Did you know that the swirly pattern on the pads of the fingers are unique to every human? It's like their own personal identification code. I give you this information freely because I know you will have no one to tell.”
“You talking about fingerprints? I'm not sure any of us would be that impressed with your knowledge, dude,” Olivia sneered.
The Ethereal shrugged. “I haven't studied humans that closely. It was only an observation, nothing more. Something I discovered from enjoying so many of them. I wonder what your sister will say when I tell her, just before I take the first little nibble? I think a finger first is suitable. Such wonderful symmetry! Start with a finger on one hand, end with the same on the other. Yes. You've convinced me. That's how I will enjoy your sister.”
Olivia felt the intense worry about her little sister be transformed to blind rage. She swung the sword and felt that it would connect with the alien. But right when it would have hit, the Ethereal sidestepped with a move so fast it seemed he didn't move at all, and that she hadn't seen right the first time.
The Ethereal king giggled. “I suppose we are somewhat strange, now I think about it. Before we continue towards both your deaths, how about we talk a little about procreation?”
“Talk about whatever you want, fucker,” Olivia said and feinted, then attacked again. Once more the Ethereal king just shifted his position without seeming to move at all.
“I shall. Procreation it is. Ator'aq, you have some ideas about that, am I right?”
“Believe me when I say that you will always be wrong.” The king's voice boomed through the huge room, even if he didn't raise his voice.
“But am I wrong in this? Is it not true that you have impregnated this woman? Is it not true that your interest in her is mainly as the mother of your children, the heirs to the Braxian kingdom?”
Olivia glanced at Ator'aq. Of all the nonsense...
But the Braxian glanced back, and Olivia thought he looked guilty.
“You will always be wrong,” he repeated, but there was no conviction behind it.
Olivia started to worry. “Is that true, Ator'aq?”
“The only truth is that I love you. Can you blame me for wanting to have you give birth to our children?”
The Ethereal giggled again. “Braxians have the ability to force their sexual partners to become pregnant, regardless of their cycles or anything else. You are pregnant now, Olivia. You should know that Braxian babies are large. Very large, usually. You'll look like a balloon by the end of the pregnancy. The fetus will leech all the nutrients from your body and you will die a dried-up husk as the baby is born, tearing you in half in the process.”
Olivia looked at Ator'aq, her jaw dropping. Had he...
“That is not true,” he said. “If you're pregnant, it was not something I did on purpose. I know we have that ability, but I made sure not to use it. I have never used force with you or with any woman.”
“Well, what else would he say?” the Ethereal laughed. “He's so innocent! It doesn't matter, really. Your pregnancy is a fact. And it will kill you. That is to say, it would have killed you. I don't think I'll wait that long before I enjoy your flavor, though. Angry Olivia would be good enough. Angry, pregnant Olivia? Oh, the idea makes me salivate.”
“Olivia, I don't think any of this is true,” Ator'aq said.
“He doesn't think it's true,” Denibael mocked. “He's too simple to understand that which I can see and you can feel – that you are a few days along already. They grow fast, the little Braxians. Feel your stomach! Isn't there more there than usual?”
Olivia was tempted to check, but she also didn't want the enemy to gain any triumphs. She knew he was right anyway. There had been some subtle changes after the first time she made love to Ator'aq. Now she knew why.
“In fact, Olivia, here's something to consider. Braxian fetuses are resilient. They can't be aborted, and this one will kill you. Here's the deal I propose. You plainly can't kill me. I avoid your weapon like thin air. But I can kill your fetus. I am the only being in existence who can. You know we Ethereals can move in ways that you don't understand, in dimensions beyond your pedestrian three dimensions. I can dip into another dimension, take out the fetus with my bare hands without the need for any surgery and thus save your life. I will even let you go. And your sister, too. In fact, I will spare this solar system. After I complete my necessary harvest of just a few of your people, I will not destroy your home world. I will keep the fetus, of course, for reasons that I'm sure you understand.” The Ethereal raised the gruesome severed and half-eaten hand. “The unborn child of Ator'aq will be a delicacy beyond... ah, I'm drooling again. Apologies. All you have to do for me is one little thing.”
“Such as?”
The Ethereal cocked his head to one side, looking more than ever like a mischievous toddler. “Kill Ator'aq.”
29
Olivia turned and looked squarely at the Braxian king. “I probably could do that,” she said. “You know I have a way with the blade, Ator'aq. And if you forced me to become pregnant with a fetus that will kill me, then I think you've got it coming.”
Ator'aq frowned. “Have you lost your mind, Olivia? I just told you I would never do any such thing. We can beat him, my love! Don't give up now,
so close to victory!”
She snorted in contempt. “Victory for you, perhaps. The final victory of a king with no people and no army, the useless victory of a man from a species that's probably pretty much extinct by now. You know, I will not let your obsession with defeating the Ethereals be the death of me if it can be avoided. My world and my people still exist. If you had told me about the pregnancy yourself, it would have been a more honest thing.” She pointed with her sword to the Ethereal king. “But how do you think it feels to have such a personal and intimate thing announced to me by that?”
“Olivia, he's confusing you with his lies and deception! There is no sense in any of it!”
Olivia didn't answer, just slashed her sword at Ator'aq's neck. He parried, but didn't counterattack. “Olivia! Come to your senses!”
She attacked again, fiercer, hoping to force him to do more than just defend himself. She looked him square in the eye, and the alarm and puzzlement he felt was very visible.
Suddenly it was as if he woke up. He launched a furious counterattack that was so complex and fast that Olivia had to take a step back. The sword danced in her hands again, and green sparks flew as they exchanged attacks and parries. Again Olivia felt time go slower, felt the deep connection with the sword, saw Ator'aq's connection with his.
Ator'aq kept driving her backwards, and the Ethereal looked on with interest. He was behind Olivia's back, and she could see him clearly in the 360-degree image in her visor. He wasn't translucent anymore. He was all there with his actual body.
She let Ator'aq press her further backwards, towards the Ethereal king.
Hands, face, posture, intent.
He was just a little too relaxed.
Looking in her visor, she sensed an opening. In a split second she primed her exoskeleton for a violent move, activating the emergency mode that would drain its energy reserve in one movement. Then she took a step backwards and pirouetted as fast as she could, letting the exoskeleton and the sword and her own will work together in perfect harmony and with the same goal.
In a blur she sensed a hot, golden volcano erupting, and then she saw the look of surprise on Denibael's face. But she was still in the middle of the violent spinning move when the exoskeleton had completely exhausted its power and she suddenly felt the full weight of the iron sword in her hands. She couldn't hold on to it and it flew from her hands at huge speed, hitting a golden wall and burying its blade in it up to the hilt.
She came to a halt after two and a half full revolutions, again facing the Ethereal king. But he was no longer there. His body lay crumbled on the floor, and his head was still coming to rest at her feet.
She just stood there for a moment, breathing hard.
Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. “You're unexpectedly devious, my love.”
She took a deep, shivering breath. “I guess so.”
Even when dead, Denibael's face still had a look of deep surprise on it.
She turned around, not sure how to feel. The Ethereal king was dead, but she was pretty much out of the fight. Her exoskeleton needed recharge and probably a pretty thorough service.
She looked up at him. “Did you really not force me pregnant?”
“I really didn't. But that is something I suppose I can never prove.”
“You may not have to. I never believed you did.”
“No?”
“No. Because I know something about you.”
“What?”
She placed her palm on his hard chest and looked up at him. “You love me.”
30
They stepped over the dead Ethereal and walked on, wanting to find the prisoners.
Ator'aq glanced over his shoulders. The enemy king had not just left a bundle of gray fabric, but an actual body. “How did you know it would work?”
“I didn't know. I thought about what you'd said, that he only feared you. It meant that maybe he didn't fear me. He would not let you get close enough to harm him. But me, he might leave an opening. And I noticed that whenever he seemed to just move from one place to the next in the blink of an eye, he had to look at the place he was going first. It took him just a split second, but I thought that if I got close enough and moved fast enough, he might not have time to move at all. The exoskeleton helped. It broke it, pretty much. I can't use the sword without it.”
“That's fine, my love. Just stay close to me. I will protect you. You are out of the fight. And I think I am, too. We've done our part.”
“I guess so.”
They walked further into the Ethereal ship. There was no one to be seen.
“Time for some mopping-up action,” Ator'aq said. “The Ethereal king is dead, but most of his compatriots are still alive. Before all this started, I made sure the End of Time started accelerating towards this station. It just docked, in fact.”
“Yeah? You looking to get away from here?”
“Not as such.” Ator'aq smirked again.
Suddenly Olivia became aware of a distant rhythmic sound, as of a thousand men marching and singing at the same time. She turned and saw an army come down the hallway towards them. They were men. Large men, dressed in furs and random garments. They all had strange swords.
They were Braxians. Hundreds of them.
“What the hell is that?”
“That,” Ator'aq said with obvious satisfaction, “is my army.”
31
The Braxian army marched fast past them and the corridor shook with their steps and their voices. They saluted their king with their swords as they went past.
“You have a full army after all? Not just eleven guys?”
“Not a full army, of course. Just a battalion's worth, about nine hundred men in all. Four hundred are here, and five hundred are taking care of the Ethereals inside your station and the other Ethereal ship. It's ample. The enemy is tired now, and they all know their king is gone. As I said before, I think he was the source of some of their power. But they will still be fierce fighters. They know they're cornered and that this is the end of them. The ten warriors you already know are my death commandos, the elite.”
Olivia still couldn't believe her eyes. “You kept almost your whole army a secret.”
The king shrugged. “Secrecy is an important part of any strategy. I wanted to surprise the Ethereals when the final showdown came. And I knew that Space Force had a traitor high up.”
“You didn't even tell me.”
“I guess I wanted to surprise you, too.”
“This is what Boniar was talking about when he said that there would be 'very numerous fighters'.”
“So it seems. No one said that I had to be surprised by anything.”
“We can talk about that later, I'm sure. Now I want to find Tessa.”
Ator'aq looked past her shoulder. “I think she has already found you.”
Olivia turned and saw her sister come towards her from further inside the alien ship, together with thirty other space marines. They were escorted by Braxians and looked pale and shaken, but otherwise unharmed. Tessa started running towards her big sister.
They came together in a warm embrace, both shedding tears of joy.
“Olivia! Oh my god, this was the worst thing ever. They kept us in cells and just wanted us to eat a lot, as if they wanted to fatten us up. And they said we'd never come home!”
The held each other for a few minutes until Ator'aq cleared his voice. Olivia disengaged.
“Tessa, you know Ator'aq, of course. King Ator'aq of the Braxians, I should say. My fiancé.”
Tessa just looked at them both with huge, astonished eyes and mouth wide open.
“You're engaged? And he's a king? Ohmigod, am I dreaming?”
Olivia laughed through tears. “No, this is real. Your big sister really is engaged to an alien king.”
“So when's the wedding?”
“Not long from now,” Ator'aq said. “Royal engagements tend not to run into months. And I think we have won the war, at long last.”
“Ohmigod, we won?” Tessa exclaimed. “And I didn't even get to fight! I mean, I kind of put up a fight when they captured me, but they were so fast and I didn't see what was happening until it was too late. I was probably easy to catch, too, because I was a little upset about- oh, but that's fine now!”
Olivia hugged her sister again. “I'm sorry I upset you. I didn't mean to.”
“I know, silly. And now you're engaged and everything, so that's okay.”
Ator'aq turned to a Braxian warrior. “Take them to the quarters we have prepared on the End of Time. This base is little more than a battle zone now. And we have room for them.”
“Yes, Sire,” the Braxian said and bowed.
“You can go with them,” Olivia said to Tessa. “It's safe. I'll come after you as soon as I clear up some things.”
They hugged again and Tessa and the other space marines went with the Braxians.
“Well,” Olivia said. “Let's see how Space Force held up at this battle.”
32
The Space Force part of the station was still chaotic. There was blood on the walls and on the floor, as well as golden puddles of Ethereal blood.
Gar'ox came to meet Ator'aq and Olivia. “All the Ethereals are dead, Sire. It gladdens me to report that all your Braxians fought well. We have heavy losses, Sire. Two hundred at least. The Ethereals fought with immense fervor. And Umi'on has fallen, Lord. He slew very many enemies, but then he succumbed to a crafty ambush.”
“He was a great warrior,” Ator'aq said solemnly. “All our fallen will receive the hero's burial. How did Space Force fare?”
“Worse than we did, but still not as bad as we feared. They had made crude swords and seemed to have killed a respectable number of enemies themselves. They are worthy allies, Sire.”
“Indeed they are. And yet at least one of them is a traitor.”
