by Bailey Dark
They hooked an IV into my arm and I began to feel dizzy from whatever they were putting into me. At the same time, the smoke curls began to enter my body. I began to breathe them in, but it was also as if the smoke had intention and was being directed into my nose and mouth. I flexed my fingers on the cool altar as prickling pain began to permeate in my body. I looked up at Kajo and he squeezed my shoulder with a soft smile.
“It’s normal…stay calm.” Butterflies rampaged in my stomach at his touch and everything was at peace again as I realized he would always be there to reassure me and that I would always be there to protect him, too.
My eyelids started to droop closed and I wondered why my soul was floating out of my body. I could look down and see myself on the altar, Kajo’s hand on my shoulder, his adoring look, the priestesses buzzing around where I lay, the sullen citizens in the audience, the surrounding gardens, chirping with birds and rustling with small animals.
My eyes bolted open and I sat up. “He’s coming.”
I looked at Kajo as I spoke, and then realized, I hadn’t spoken aloud. Kajo’s smile was so big, I thought it would burst, his scar scrunched up in the smile lines around his eyes.
“He’s coming!” I repeated, realizing I was speaking through telepathy.
“Who is coming?”
“Rhone! There are bombs in the air, coming toward us right now.”
The priestesses had stopped their work and they looked exhausted. I swung my legs off the altar and looked at Kajo. His eyes had glazed over, and he was seeking something mentally. Or conversing with other people.
Suddenly, a whistling sound came loud and clear above us. A missile streaked through the air and exploded in the amphitheater seats, sending broken and burning bodies plummeting through the air, limbs severed, blood gushing, flames roaring.
Another one hit directly on the altar as Kajo and I ran toward cover of the trees. The altar shattered and was engulfed in flame.
The priestesses were back on their feet and many of Kajo’s telepathic soldiers were standing in the middle of the clearing, their hands held to the air, their eyes glazed over, as they searched the air for missiles, to still them in their pace, stopping them from raining more hazards on the people gathered for my ceremony.
Soon, dozens of missiles and grenades were hanging in the air over the clearing. When it seemed like no more were raining down, the guards launched them all far into the sky, releasing the hold they’d had on the grenades.
With a resounding boom that shattered windows and flattened tree canopies, the grenades exploded, triggering the explosion of the remainder of the missiles. High in the sky, like fireworks popping and glittering their joy to the ground. Only, this time it was shrapnel.
Kajo had been standing at attention near me, hands raised, in case he needed to catch any projectile, three bodyguards around us. I held my head in my hands, dizzy from my first true telepathic connection. I had heard Kajo in my mind before, but I had never been able to read anything except for what he sent me. I had just sensed an entire army of missiles in the air through Rhone’s incredibly poignant thoughts.
There were people screaming and medics teleporting into the garden, applying emergency first aid, covering the dead or organizing body parts. Smoke swamped the clearing.
Kajo finally dropped his hands and hugged me immediately. The attack seemed to be over. No soldiers appeared on the ground and no hostiles teleported in to continue the onslaught. But, it had been deadly enough. At least ten people who had come to watch me crowned a Curan Queen were dead.
Kajo kissed my forehead.
“You did it, Daphne. You have been imbued with the telepathic and telekinetic skills of a Curan. We will work to refine them, but, thank you. If you hadn’t been so sensitively attuned at that exact moment, we would all be dead.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I just hugged him and allowed him to hold me until a hovercraft came to take us back to the castle. I was still human, I was still myself. But, now, I was even more. I shared my soul with someone else and we were headed to my castle. My home. My destiny.
Fourteen
Rhone
Vania hadn’t been difficult to capture. Daphne’s little brunette best friend had been seated in the same courtyard gardens outside my old place of work. I would never care to return to being the CEO of Associated Development Inc. I was in the middle of a revolution.
I had made the trip to Earth while the King was healing, guarded well by his fleet of soldiers and those from Commander Sasrin. I was attempting to recover my army, as well.
I couldn’t believe that Kajo had taken an Earthling Queen. Not only that, he had accepted her as a Curan. I heard she even had some early telepathic and kinetic skills. She had been the one to sense my missiles coming in the air toward her Curan conversion ceremony. She hadn’t helped stop any of them, but she had alerted the guards that they were sailing toward them. I had only killed a handful of people in what should have been a massacre. The King should have died today. Again, she had saved him…
Maybe there was something about these girls…
We would soon find out.
I rounded the corner and signaled to the two guards to step aside. I laid my palm on the door’s paneling and it clicked and glowed to accept my signature. It slid aside. Inside, on a luxurious canopy bed, Vania lay curled up, facing the opposite wall. She scrunched up even smaller as she heard me walking closer.
“Vania—”
“Fuck off, monster.”
“Now, now. There’s no way to talk to your best friend’s boss.”
She spun around on the bed.
“Where is she? What have you done with her? Where’s Daphne?”
“Daphne is safe. With my rival, actually. Bound to be married sometime soon and accepted into a whole new culture.”
“Who is your rival?”
“Well, he is the King, you see. The King of Farian. I am trying to overthrow him.”
Vania looked at him and laughed bitterly. “You’re joking, right?”
“Not at all. And you’re going to help me.”
I reached my hand out to her cheeks and she scooted away on the bed. “Don’t be frightened. I just need to test something.” She stiffened as I touched her, and I waited to feel some type of electric shock. There were reports that every time Kajo and Daphne touched, it was like lightning fired through the air. “Dammit. Nothing.”
“I’ll say. That wasn’t so good for me either.”
I looked at her and frowned. “Such a smartass. Well, never mind. We will just have to use your blood, then.”
I motioned to the guards and they alerted the medical personnel to enter. I rolled up my sleeves. If Kajo had become stronger because of Daphne, maybe it had been because of her blood transfusion. There would certainly be no harm in trying.
Vania stood up, jumped off the bed, and ran to the corner as needles and restraints were brought before her. The guards grabbed her and brought her back to a nearby chair.
“Lay back,” I commanded, admiring her looks for a moment, as the struggles made her brown curls shake loose and frame her face, toned arms struggling against the grip of the techs. “You don’t need to be afraid. I have no reason to kill you. Don’t give me one.”
I closed my eyes and sat back in the seat, waiting for the needle prick. Maybe it was a longshot, but if there was something special about these Earthling women, I was determined to find out what it was. No matter whose life I took. After all, my hands were plenty bloody already.
Fifteen
Kajo
I handed Daphne the cup of tea as a loud rapping rang out on the door. I looked at her for permission, surprising myself again for this immediate deference I felt for her, for anything she wanted, anything she ever needed: she could demand anything of me.
She nodded permission, taking the tea, but still holding her dizzy head in her hands. The ceremony had been a lot for her.
“Come in!”
The door burst open at my words and one of my magical technicians barreled through, breathless.
“Rhone has Vania!”
Daphne dropped the cup. It shattered on the floor and splashed tea onto her yellow gown.
“My Vania? From Earth?”
“Yes. Apparently, he made the trip there a few days ago. He has her held captive at his lair in Bordash country. We don’t know what he is trying to do with her, but word is he may be trying to use all her blood, the way you used Daphne’s.”
“That was different. She is my Destin. We could merge in that way.”
“Well, he is trying for a transfusion. Or a forced conversion and then going to drain her.”
Daphne was on her feet, her hands gripping my arm.
“Please, Kajo…” She didn’t need to plead. I was already strategizing.
“Call Commander Sasrin. Get the rest of our troops ready. We are attacking Rhone and his Bordash army.”
“When shall they be prepared by?”
“Immediately. And send word to my Cohort. We are leaving now.”
The technician saluted and ran out of the room. My Cohort consisted of fifty of my strongest warriors and twenty leaders from around Farian. They would command their own fleet of fifty. The purpose of having the Cohort system was that they could be prepared to attack or defend at a moment’s notice.
I turned to Daphne. “Will you be able—”
“You’re not leaving without me.”
“It will be dangerous.”
“You’re not leaving without me.” Her fierce eyes, even balanced with the quivering lip, dared me to contradict her.
I looked around. “Smash that mirror. Telekinetically.”
She looked at the mirror, raised her hands, then stopped. She looked at the ground and dropped her hands. “Can I smash something else, please?”
“Why?”
“On Earth, breaking a mirror is considered seven years bad luck.”
I was silent, thinking she must be joking. She just turned redder. I laughed. “Sure. How about you lift the pieces of the mug you dropped off the ground. Lift up the tea droplets and put them back in the teapot.”
Daphne set her jaw, flexed her fingers, and concentrated on the mug. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the ceramic shards started to tremble. I noticed tears swell in her eyes. Oh, no…
The shards of the mug shattered into dust, imploding. The puddle of tea was swept from the floor and she dashed it across the room into the wall, as if it had slipped out from under her power.
She turned to me as the powder of the obliterated mug pieces settled to the ground, making a sticky paste in the remaining tea spots.
“Well, as long as you concentrate your power on the enemy, I think we will be okay.”
“What happened?”
“You got too emotional. Were you thinking about Vania?”
“Yes.”
“Moving things with your mind is a delicate process between destruction of the object and creation of a path for it to move upon. You just destroyed that mug because your mind was too motivated for revenge.”
“Ok…” Daphne looked at the chair beside the table. She gently moved it back from its spot, then rushed it and slammed it across the room into the wall. Her eyes glowed with the new power.
I smiled with pride, chest swelling, desire growing. My Destin was powerful…
As long as she aimed her uncontrolled, volatile, immature skills at someone or something we didn’t mind hurting, we would all be all right.
“How long will it take your Cohort to gather? We need to go get Vania right away.”
“They should be—”
The soldier who had come to alert them that Rhone was holding Vania teleported into the room.
“They are ready, your Highness. The Commanders have gathered in the Great Hall.”
Though we had just recently had a betrayal, by Galoon and by the Bordash in the southern region of Farian, all my other Commanders were loyal, through and through. They ruled their regions as kings and I respected them as such; they just had to show me the same.
I grabbed my sword from the bedroom table and clipped it to my belt.
“Let us go.” I extended my hand to Daphne, my Queen, and she took it. She was clearly afraid for her friend, but character was what was tested when your courage was on the line.
We held hands and teleported to the Great Hall. Daphne would eventually learn that skill, too, but for now, I just carried her along in my wake.
The twenty Commanders and their Seconds were in the Great Hall. I was told that the armies of fifty a piece were gathered in the pasture outside.
We were finely-tuned, ferocious, fighting machines, both men and women, both Bordash and Curan.
And now one Earthling.
It was time to finally take Rhone down.
“Rhone has abducted Queen Daphne’s best friend from Earth. He is likely seeking her as his Destin, which is highly unlikely. This means he will kill her soon. While that event is the catalyst for our fight today, it is not the reason. We all know that Rhone must be taken down, that his Bordash must be persuaded, by any means needed, that we Farians are best served together, as one nation, on this globe, forever aligned.” I didn’t need to explain about Vania, but I had always believed in transparency with my strongest warriors. I was sure that was part of why I was able to maintain the Kingship.
“We know Rhone is in the southern regions with the betrayers. His hideaway is near a lake in the mountains of Broafin. We can teleport there and surprise him. There’s no way he will expect us to attack directly.
“Your orders are this: capture if you can, kill if necessary. They have given us no choice. They were killing civilians all around the world on the Day of Joy. We will at least be targeting soldiers. Curan and Bordash, are you ready?” A great answering cheer split the air. “Are you ready?!”
The cheers grew louder, swords were thrust into the air, fists pumped, and then I signaled to one of my magical techs to broadcast the image of where we would be teleporting to. All my soldiers linked arms and within ten seconds, we had disappeared from my Great Hall and were standing in a mountain meadow.
I squeezed Daphne’s hand and released it. She followed closely beside me, but there was a new fearlessness coming from her. As we traipsed quietly through the meadows toward some log cabins, I saw her slaying the tall grasses into slices with her telekinesis as we walked. She was practicing. How would she feel if she was ever forced to actually slice off someone’s limb? Or head? Or impale their heart? We had decided against giving her a weapon that she had never wielded; at least she wouldn’t be able to hurt herself as easily with the telekinesis as she would be able to do with a sharp sword.
A chilly wind swept down snow-capped mountains and the crystal-clear lake in the distance was crawling with fishermen and women, none of whom had noticed us yet. We startled rabbits and deer as we crossed the meadows, and were just at the cabins, when the sounding cry went up of some sentry having noticed our army. Smoke puffed from the chimneys and the clattering of dishes was heard inside as the soldiers pushed aside their dinner, likely to grab their weapons and wait for orders.
We all heard the orders, loud and clear and telepathic:
“Kill them all!”
It was Rhone’s resounding voice. Bordash soldiers came rushing out of the cabins and our swords clashed, deflected their laser bullets, we flung them aside, our telekinesis outweighing their higher tech.
A grenade came hurtling toward me as I swept my sword at an assailant who had snuck through the lines. Daphne swept her arms out and away, giving a huge burst of power to the grenade, sending it skyrocketing to rain fireworks upon the far lake. I nodded gratitude, a smile I had never worn before in battle pulling at my lips, and then I was clashing again with another Bordash who was trying to get close enough to tease me.
“Remember, I want the Earthling and the Beast King alive.”
I was listening to Rho
ne’s thoughts and I was sure he knew it, but he didn’t seem to care. How could he be so cocky? Why didn’t he care that I would know his plan? Why didn’t he have better mental blocks from prying mind eyes?
A Curan in Rhone’s uniform floated through the air, propelling himself, flinging electroshock pins toward Daphne. They were raining toward her, and her back was turned. I flicked them aside, one after the other, but they kept coming, as if from an automatic machine gun.
“Daphne!” I cried. She turned from where she was helping stop the bleeding of one of our own, hands drenched in blood from the acidly burning laser burn in the soldier’s stomach. She looked up, just as a single shocker slipped through my rapid deflections. She reached out and squeezed her fist tight on the air. The shocker crushed in on itself with a sharp wine, and fell from the air, crumpled into inutile pieces.
I was at war with myself. Honored and privileged, and so proud, to have my Queen fighting beside me, but it was clear the Bordash were honing in on her. They wanted to her. I wondered if Vania was still alive, or if Rhone had found her to not be his Destin and simply killed her. Perhaps he was thinking that there was something special about Daphne, which there was of course, without recognizing, or accepting, that she was sewn into my soul, and my soul alone.
With a furious blast, I knocked the oncoming Bordash away from my Queen as they ran toward her, brandishing their stun guns and leaping over the fray. They collapsed backward, one’s neck bending at an odd angle from which he would never recover.
“Daphne! Take the injured and teleport back to the Castle.”
“Not without Vania! Besides, I don’t know how to teleport by myself.”
“I will find her. Please…” I grabbed her elbow, looking deep into her brown eyes, hoping she could see all my emotions: the love, the concern, the pride, the joy, the hope… “You must stay safe. For us.”
