by Calista Skye
She winked at him. She liked hearing him approve of her actions.
"Praise her for her wisdom. Truly she is the greatest queen the Vlon have ever had, as everyone says."
The other Vlon just stood passive while the queen spoke. The power she wielded was pretty awesome, Dani calmly judged..
"She asks if we require any additional tribute, and she indicates that there's a good chance they will not give it. Total obliteration is undesirable, but it is not without honor."
"We require a thousand of her warriors to stay on this planet and pledge loyalty to us. That is all."
"She asks if they may choose their own path around our space or if we will determine it for them."
Dani thought. "What do you think?"
"I think they should be turned back completely. They will strip any planet they come across of all its biomass. If they do that to a broad belt of the galaxy, then there will be nothing left for us humans. When we get that far."
"On the other hand," Dani pondered, "a barren belt like that around human space could be a good defensive measure. Like the moat around a castle. And they didn't agree to be turned back. They only agreed to go around. I don't want to push it here."
Crixael shrugged. "Good points. I'll tell them to choose their own way, but to keep a very wide distance to any human activity."
The squealing ceased, and the Vlon took to the sky like a swarm of bees. It was the most extraordinary sight Dani had ever seen, and she couldn't help letting her jaw drop. Each huge cockroach-like Vlon changed shape and became sleek and streamlined, and then they skipped off the ground and levitated, catching their bearings, before they slowly, but inexorably soared into the sky.
"That's spectacular," she gasped. "They don't have any wings. They just fly."
Crixael twirled his staff between his fingers, not impressed. "Looks like one part of their bodies is always in hyperspace. It's not subjected to the normal laws of nature. It can move any way they want it to."
Dani thought she got it. "Like a ship with a propeller under the water. You can't see the propeller, but it makes the ship go forward."
Crixael laughed. "Sure! If that suits your brain. It's nothing like that, actually. But I like the image."
Dani slid the sword back into its scabbard. "So. You're back."
He smirked, and she allowed herself to go weak at the knees. He had such incredible presence...
"For a while," he said. "I mean, I'm here to stay. But I will change."
She wanted to ask him what he meant, but then there was a golden sheen all around them.
"You will indeed," said the most beautiful voice Dani had ever heard except for Crixael's. But this one was female. "You will change. Forever."
38
Dani turned, and there was an apparition coming towards them. The 360-degree camera in her helmet wasn't picking up anything.
But with her own eyes she saw a woman, with pale skin and the thickest, glossiest hair Dani had ever seen. She wore gold, carelessly draped over one breast and leaving the other bare, large and carried high on her chest in a blatant display of perfect femininity. Another sheet barely adorned her lover abdomen, and she reminded Dani so much of an ancient Greek goddess that she had to shake her head.
And there was more. Her beauty was incredible, but there was such danger behind it that she felt her heart race and even had a strong urge to cower before the woman approaching, to fling herself at the ground in anxious worship.
She was a princess and a Braxian and an Earthling and a Space Marine, so she remained standing. But she kept her hand on the hilt of her sword.
"My queen," Crixael said with an impetuous smile. "It gladdens me to see you so well."
The woman laughed, and it was a sound so wonderfully musical and perfect that Dani longed for it not to stop.
"Really? Because when you snapped my neck, I could have sworn that it was on purpose."
Crixael shrugged in disinterest and twirled his war staff between strong fingers. "I suppose it was. I wanted to keep you off my back until I had finished some things."
The woman placed one slender hand on a perfectly flared hip and Dani felt a pang of jealousy. Why couldn't her ridiculously wide hips look like that?
"I see. Well, I do hope you finished them. I mean, you are finished. Make no mistake about that. My weakness for you ended the moment you twisted my head almost off and then left me for dead on my own chaise lounge. I think perhaps you're taking the tragedy a little too far. Then I remembered, a tragedy always ends in death. However, death seems insufficient for what you have done to your queen. Physical injury I can handle and indeed heal. Being tricked for my own entertainment I can just about tolerate. But being humiliated and taken advantage of – I must draw the line somewhere."
It was Queen Benirsheba, Dani realized. The queen of this wave of Ethereals. She was magnificent, plainly a goddess. She made Dani feel insignificant and invisible and inferior. And afraid.
Crixael's staff twirled faster and faster and made a sound like an old-fashioned propeller airplane. "I didn't mean to humiliate you, my queen. But much was at stake."
Dani realized that Crixael wasn't afraid of the queen. If anything, she thought she detected contempt in his speech. She drew closer to him.
Then the achingly beautiful Ethereal queen shifted her attention to Dani, smiling pleasantly, and the power of her attention was so strong and seemed so friendly that Dani wanted to smile to her. This, she realized, was how Earthlings had felt about the Ethereals the first time they'd met the aliens. Inferior, charmed, even flattered for having been awarded the attention of these majestic and god-like beings.
"Princess Danai'a," Benirsheba said. "I have been wanting to meet you and entertain you in my royal chambers."
Now that the Ethereal queen was talking directly to her, the power of her presence was magnified and Dani couldn't help feeling flattered by the extraordinary queen knowing her name.
Shit. She couldn't fall for that. This was far too dangerous.
She didn't reply, just drew her sword an inch out of its scabbard. As if in a daze, she noticed that the queen didn't have the twinkling stars in her eyes that Crixael had.
Crixael laughed, genuinely amused. "I think she knows what you mean by that. Humans aren't that easy to fool, Majesty. Not anymore."
"Such an intriguing shape you have," Benirsheba continued, ignoring him. "Slim and wiry on top, then interestingly wide further down. Is it a result of being a halfbreed, you think? Did you ever ponder it? I mean, perhaps the thin upper part is the human tendency for scrawniness and the fat lower part is where the Braxian warrior heft comes into play? I wonder if it wouldn't have been better the other way around. But of course your mother is also... heavy. Oh well, you and I shall have rich opportunity to study and discuss every part of your body as I enjoy it. What was it you recommended, Crix? Wasn't it one little nibble per month?"
Dani knew she was in mortal danger. She knew only too well what the queen was talking about, and it made her blood freeze. She clutched the hilt of her sword and drew it another inch.
"I think it was your own idea, my queen," Crixael said. "But it will never happen. Some things are too good for you. Dani is one such thing. Indeed she's too good for me, as well."
"Yes," the queen agreed, tapping her lips with one finger, "you are both only half. Some affinity had to develop, I suppose. I'm feeling hungry now. Being betrayed by the only person for whom I feel some affection has that effect on me. See, Crix? Even I can care. Somewhat."
"You're using words you don't know the meaning of," Crixael stated calmly. "The care and affection of humans is quite beyond you. You think you're superior because you have the powers that your Ethereal breed give you. But in fact you are inferior because you can never enjoy anything that your gifts provide. That takes care and emotions. You see the world as through a window. You can never truly experience it, for you don't care about anything. You said that tragedies end in death. That is tr
ue for humans. For you, the tragedy is that you are alive."
Queen Benirsheba snarled, and her sudden turn to anger scared Dani so much she took a step back and drew her sword all the way out.
"What do you know about anything, young one?" the queen sneered. "You have lived as I have your entire life. I have never heard you complain."
Crixael held his war staff behind his back, stemmed one end into the ground behind him and leaned on it. "I am half Ethereal. Of course I didn't complain. I knew of no other life. Now I do. And I have the chance to take advantage of it."
The queen laughed again, but this time there was a tiny dissonance in it. "Crix, I know you love humans. And you want to be one of them. That was my plan for you anyway. I have now cancelled all the powers you have that draw on my royal strength. I suppose I can't take all your Ethereal specifics away from you. You are half, after all. But I think you can feel it right now. And I think you'll live to regret it. Even a full Ethereal would feel like a cripple if I were to withdraw my support. And for you, who are half dust to start with... well, you're all dust now. How's that for a tragedy?"
Dani realized that something profound had happened, because suddenly her helmet display could see Crixael fully and immediately marked him as Hostile! in bright red. She wasn't sure how to feel about it. Except that he was probably weaker now. Could he still resist the queen?
He chuckled. "I'm only surprised it took you this long. I made my choice long before I twisted your demented head and heard your spine snap. It was a pleasure to do. Absolutely worth any consequences. I may be dust now, but there's one thing you have never understood and never will: Being dust is glorious."
Queen Benirsheba laughed, but it was a shrill sound now. "I see. Let's find out if you still think it's glorious when I consume your beloved piece by piece over many years. I will make sure you can watch. From up close."
"I'm sure you will. 'Beloved', you say? You have unwittingly touched upon that which is the most glorious. It is the most important emotion that humans have, the one that makes them do what they do. The one that makes them build. The one that makes them raise families. The one that makes them function, to go on through their lives despite every obstacle. It is to affection what the ocean is to a drop. It is to care what this planet is to a pebble. It's the one emotion that is such that when I first felt it, only a few days ago, I decided to turn my back on you forever if only I could feel it for one more second. They call it love. Did you ever hear of it?"
Suddenly the queen had a silver staff in her hands and she struck out with it so fast it was just a blur. It came within an inch of hitting Crixael across the face, but he blocked it with his own staff at the last moment.
"That shut you up," Benirsheba chuckled, sounding like a mischievous child. "I haven't fought for centuries. But it's refreshing."
She attacked him again, and there was a blur of silver and gold between them. Dani took up a defensive stance with her sword, ready if Benirsheba was to come close.
Their weapons clanged together with sounds like finely tuned bells. They both moved so fast even Dani's helmet couldn't track Crixael's movements. But it did look as if he was being pushed back and that he was starting to have trouble with countering all of Benirsheba's strokes.
Benirsheba had her back to her, as if she could be safely ignored.
Dani's battlesuit made her move without a sound, and the exoskeleton embedded in it helped her hold the heavy sword easily. She got within reach of Benirsheba's exquisite, naked back and quickly drew the blade back to take a swing. But the queen casually jabbed her silver staff back and struck Dani's helmet in the middle of the transparent visor, shattering it and killing the AI.
She heard the queen giggle over the alarms inside her helmet, and she pulled the useless thing off her head, shaking her short hair loose. She felt the warrior part of her come to the forefront once more. This time it was cool and certain. This was the deadliest fight she'd ever been in, and if she lost, the consequences were too gruesome to contemplate.
She attacked again.
39
Queen Benirsheba hadn't had any problems with fighting him alone, but now that Dani was hacking at her with her sword, the fight was more even.
It warmed Crixael's heart to see his beloved come to his aid, and he loved how she had taken off her helmet and fought like an amazon.
But Benirsheba was still winning. Her first moves had been clumsy, but now she was easily blocking his attacks and launching devious blows of her own. She had a clear advantage in speed and in the fact that she could move instantly from one spot to another. So far she hadn't used that advantage to the fullest, but when she did, the fight would be pretty much over.
Crixael felt sluggish and heavy and cumbersome and clumsy. She had reduced him to dust, taking away all her royal support of his Ethereal powers. He felt it well. He was less now. Still he retained some talents that were his, innate to the part of him that was Ethereal. He was still infinitely more powerful than any ordinary human. But he was also dust compared to Benirsheba.
Dani's attacks weren't making much of a difference. It was like a butterfly dancing around a charging tiger. But it stole some attention.
Benirsheba was getting better very fast, and now she started feinting by flickering from one spot to the other. Soon she would get in a good hit, and then...
Crixael forced his muscles to obey him in working better and harder and faster. He couldn't kill her with the staff, but he could incapacitate her. She, on the other hand, could kill him.
He had a sudden impulse, one that immediately became so appealing to him that it seemed to light up the universe. He laughed at the sheer insanity of it. But still, it was right. And was there ever a better time than now, when they were both dust and would very probably die together? Fighting their common enemy?
"Danai'a," he called. "Will you marry me?"
"Sure," she called back right away. "Any time."
Benirsheba sneered and her eyes glinted with anger. "That time will never come!"
She feinted, once, drawing her silver staff away from him and shifting her position a foot away, and then, looking him straight in the eye, she jabbed the end of the staff behind her, hard.
It hit Dani in the chest and penetrated her suit. She fell backwards with the force of the impact, and Crixael could see that the end of Benirsheba's silver staff was dark with blood.
Dani's blood. The sight of it made him furious, and he attacked the queen with a flurry of strokes and attacks, taking her by surprise and pushing her back.
His worry for Dani overwhelmed him, and he half cursed it – it took his attention away from the fight.
And it was enough. Ducking one of the queen's strokes, he tripped and fell backwards. With his full Ethereal powers he could have stayed upright easily, but now he landed heavily on the ground.
Quick as lightning, the queen placed one foot on his staff, placing a weight on it that was far beyond her own, and it snapped in half with a deafening bang.
She looked down at him. "You were my favorite. And then you go and love a piece of dust. You're right, I suppose. I will never feel that emotion. Still it doesn't bother me. Look at where your love has brought you! You're at my feet. Defeated. Humiliated. Soon dead. But when you pass into the darkness, you will know that I will still live. And so will your beloved. For years. As long as I can make her last. I don't think she will enjoy it. But I will. And isn't that all that matters?"
The queen raised her silver staff to finish him off. But there was movement behind her.
Dani was back on her feet. She caught his eye and then flung her sword at him as hard as her remarkable suit could power it.
The blade broke the sound barrier with a tight snap and came whooshing at him so fast he had to use all his remaining Ethereal reflexes to catch it by the hilt. But then he could use the momentum she had given it, redirect it and thrust it right at Benirsheba's stomach.
The iron blade, carefully prepa
red by mysterious aliens to be extra effective against Ethereals, pierced the queen's naked, immaculate abdomen and went all the way through her. Liquid gold poured out, and she screamed – not in pain, but in an anger that an Ethereal could only feel when denied something she wanted on a whim.
Her eyes shot lightning, but her knees gave in and she coiled up on the hard rocks as if she was just casually sitting down. She kept her torso straight and upright as the golden blood poured out of her.
Crixael had to admire that – even now, she was a royal all the way through.
She had dropped her staff and he squatted down beside her.
"It turns out I did care for you", he said and placed a hand on her cheek. "But I love her."
"Dust loving dust," the queen wheezed. "How appropriate. You're both dead. The next queen will eat you alive."
She fell to the side, but before her upper body hit the ground, it vanished, leaving only a thin sheet of gold.
She was dead, and her earthly remains were absorbed into the part of the universe that was Ethereal.
Crixael felt a change come over him.
40
She woke up and was still on the planet. Benirsheba was gone, and Crixael was carrying her easily in his strong arms. Reflexively her hand went to her chest where the Ethereal queen had speared her and given her an injury that had broken several ribs and pierced her lungs. She knew it would kill her.
The battlesuit had a big hole there. But underneath it her skin felt as smooth and intact as ever.
She looked up at his face. Even from this angle he was unbearable gorgeous. "So, am I dead?"
He smirked, and the stars in his eyes twinkled. "I highly doubt it. Certainly you seem to be talking."
"But she speared me on her staff."
"She did. She ran you right through so the tip of her staff came out of the other side of you."
