by Abel, Regine
“So, what are you saying?” I asked with a tense voice. “Our request is rejected?”
“We’re saying that we would like to propose an alternative,” Chaos said.
“Which is?” I asked, glad my eagerness didn’t show.
“Join the Vanguard.”
My hearts skipped a beat while Tabitha’s head jerked towards me at the same time as my brothers’ did. I stilled, my mind racing. This exceeded my greatest hopes. My brothers had often expressed their wish to join the Vanguard, a dream I’d also shared growing up, listening to my mother telling me the tales of their great deeds. How often I’d pictured myself as a young man, freeing my mother and all her sisters from my sire’s grasp. I’d see myself, looking dashing in my Vanguard uniform, leading the charge alongside the Xian Warriors to eradicate the world of the Kryptid threat.
But I couldn’t let my childish fantasies blind me from my duties to my people.
“Assuming we would consider it, your Coalition wouldn’t agree to it,” I challenged.
“The Coalition doesn’t control the Vanguard,” Tabitha said.
“Correct,” Chaos echoed.
“But?” I insisted.
Chaos grinned and crossed his leg, a taunting smile on his face. Tabitha frowned at him, and he gave her a defiant look. Her cheeks taking on a charming pink confirmed they were having a telepathic conversation. I cast a suspicious glance her way before narrowing my eyes at Chaos. I wanted to ask her what they were talking about but didn’t want to pry. Somehow, I suspected it involved her relationship with me.
“But you will need to prove yourself to the Coalition to help them accept your joining,” Chaos answered at last, refocusing on me.
I clenched my jaw, hating to feel cornered or pressured. After breaking the chains Khutu had put me in, I’d promised myself never to let another hold the power of life and death over me. The intense gazes of my brothers just irritated me further. Despite their obvious desire to urge me to agree, they didn’t bombard me with their thoughts and opinions, knowing I would reach out to them when I felt the need.
“Prove ourselves, how?” Rogue asked.
“Join us in a battle to bring down Khutu and obliterate his forces on Zekuro,” Chaos said.
My hearts soared with savage joy. “You get that for free,” I said with a predatory smile.
“Sign us all up,” Reaper said, his face lit up with a feral expression.
“I figured you’d say that. It will help alleviate the Coalition’s reluctance in accepting you,” Chaos responded, satisfied. “You will find that Khepri is quite hospitable.”
But once more, I had to temper my excitement, not only at the prospect of setting foot on the almost utopian Khepri, but also at my dream of flying into battle as an equal alongside the Xian Warriors.
“Hospitable for who?” I asked.
Chaos appeared slightly taken aback. “For the Dragons, of course.”
“And what of the rest of our people? Will it be hospitable for them, too?” I specified.
My hearts sank at the same time as Chaos’s face shut down. The hope and excitement that had shone on my brothers’ faces faded.
“I do not think it possible for the Coalition to ever welcome the Scelks,” Chaos said in a severe tone. “Frankly, after Janaur, I do not feel comfortable having them living in our midst. They could quite literally destroy us from within.”
I swallowed the bitter bile of disappointment. From the first time I’d decided to take the victims of the General’s experiments under my wings, I’d known it would only make it harder for others to accept us. But they were victims of their circumstances just like we were. They deserved a chance at regaining some of the joy and happiness Khutu had robbed them of.
“And that is why we didn’t ask to join or migrate to any of your allied planets,” I said in a calm voice, devoid of any emotion. “I am well aware that some of my people are terrifying to the Coalition. After all, Khutu created them for that very purpose. But I’m not abandoning them. When I freed the Scelks from the General, I swore to look after them. I will not break my word.”
“You cannot stay here! The children cannot stay here!” Chaos snapped. “What of your promise to your younger siblings? You know they will have a much better future on Khepri. Are you willing to sacrifice their happiness and condemn them to a life of hardship for the Scelks?”
Tabitha gasped, a shocked expression on her face as she gaped at her Warrior. A cold anger descended over me as I stared at Chaos with barely veiled contempt and disappointment.
“Is this how easily Xian Warriors cast aside those to whom they’ve pledged their loyalty whenever they become inconvenient?” I asked with an icy voice.
Kicking his chair, sending it careening against the back wall, Chaos jumped to his feet, his face twisted with anger. My brothers and I immediately stood up as well, instantly ready for battle.
“I have no fucking loyalty to the Scelks,” Chaos shouted with an unexpected fury from a man usually so stoic. “Those abominations caused the deaths of my brothers and sisters. How many more would have died if not for our intervention on Janaur? And you have the audacity to want to bring them to our homeworld?”
“OUR Scelks did not perform those killings,” I yelled back, taking on a threatening pose.
I was tired of us always being seen as the monsters when so much good had actually resulted from our deeds. The Coalition had no idea how many of Khutu’s plans we had thwarted in the shadows, how many invasions and experiments we had sabotaged, sparing the lives of hundreds of millions of innocents.
“Your intervention didn’t stop the Scelk threat on Janaur; ours did!” I shouted, slapping my chest with my fist. “You freed the infected children, bravo,” I added, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “But it was us who destroyed all the crates containing the enhanced Scelk larvae before the Kryptids could take them to the General. It was us who wiped out the bugs crawling all over the city. Without us and our Scelks, your sorry asses would have never made it off Janaur alive.”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Tabitha shouted. “You both cut it out with the pissing contest. Whether those Scelks contributed or not in the deaths of our brothers and sisters of the Vanguard is a moot point.”
Tabitha took in a deep breath to rein in her annoyance, then made eye contact with each one of us. Shame burned my cheeks to have so utterly lost my cool and made such a spectacle of myself in front of my woman.
“Regardless of his personal ethics, Bane’s dragon blood forbids him from abandoning the Scelks, and your own Gomenzi blood forbids you from leaving him and his brothers here,” Tabitha said in a heated tone. “The fact is that they do not need our permission to come to Khepri. They are the children of the first Soulcatchers. That alone makes them lawful citizens of Khepri.”
That knocked the wind out of me and out of the other men in the room, even Chaos. Although her rationale made sense, it was something we’d never even contemplated. But more importantly, it also dawned on me that, through our mothers, we were also technically citizens of Earth. Would our maternal grandparents and siblings welcome us or shun us for the abuse that led to our births?
“Now, everyone calm the fuck down so that we can resolve this like the adults we’re supposed to be,” Tabitha said, running nervous fingers through her short hair. “Everybody sit down. Chaos, grab your chair.”
He glared at her. My Queen sustained his gaze and gave his chair a meaningful look making it clear she didn’t have the patience for tantrums. Feeling like a snotty kid myself, I barely suppressed a mocking smile when Chaos made a face as if he’d bitten into something bitter. Turning sharply on his heels, he went to fetch his chair while the rest of us sat down. Chaos put his chair down in front of the table with far more force than needed before all but letting himself drop onto it like a spoiled brat. Tabitha rolled her beautiful eyes at him but moved on.
“The Scelks are going to be a hard pill to swallow for everyone, myself included,” she
continued in a calm, reasonable voice. “I still have nightmares about Janaur. The fact that they have been living harmoniously with your brothers and extended family somewhat reassures me. But they are still a serious threat that we cannot merely ignore. We will simply have to discuss security measures acceptable to all parties involved, which we will scale down over time as they gain our general trust. And the same will likely apply to the other species you’ve rescued as part of your people.”
“It’s not that easy, Tabitha,” I argued, although impressed with how masterfully she had kept this meeting from completely derailing, and not daring to hope this could be peacefully resolved.
“It is as easy or as complicated as we make it,” she retorted. “Had our roles been reversed, would you readily welcome beings created to destroy you into the very heart of your homeworld, within reach of your mate and children?”
I slightly flinched, then shook my head in concession. In their shoes, there was no fucking way I would allow beings like the Scelks anywhere near my little brothers—if I didn’t know them as I do now.
“This is a generous offer, brother,” Dread mind-spoke to me. “Beyond anything we could have hoped for, especially for the young ones.”
“Agreed,” I answered.
It not only guaranteed a much brighter future for my brothers, but also the presence of human females in their lives, and the chance at some of the motherly affection they so severely lacked and craved. The longing on their little faces as they gazed upon Tabitha walking by clawed at my chest. I knew Ayana and Liena—at the very least—would be generous with their affection. It also resolved the other issue Tabitha and I had not openly discussed: would she choose the Vanguard over me… over us? Our moving to Khepri and joining the Vanguard removed the last obstacle potentially keeping Tabitha and me from having a real future together.
Hanging on to my legendary impassive façade was never as difficult as in this instant; I could barely contain the whirlwind of joy raging in my hearts.
“This isn’t a matter we’re going to resolved in a two-hour talk,” Tabitha said in a reasonable voice, though Chaos still appeared to be fuming inside.
As one of the first Xian Warriors ever created, he would have known every single one of the other Warriors born after him. Each loss had to cut him deep. But worse still, I could only imagine how devastating the death of any Soulcatcher must have been like for him. So yes, I understood his instinctive hatred of any Scelk.
“On behalf of the Vanguard, Chaos and Legion have already consented to the Dragons joining us. And I believe you guys see the wisdom of seizing that opportunity, correct?” Tabitha asked looking first at me, then at my three brothers in turn. We all nodded our assent. “Then, after this meeting, each party will appoint someone to negotiate the terms. Agreed?”
We all nodded again, this time Chaos joining in. My hearts swelled with love and pride for my woman. I never would have asked her for help, wanting to make sure she knew my feelings for her were genuine and not a means to manipulating her into aiding our cause. And yet, I strongly believed that she had played a large role in the unexpected offer from the Vanguard.
She was truly my perfect Queen.
Chaos gave Tabitha an odd look, half-baleful, half-impressed. “When the fuck did you become such a little diplomat?” he asked in a gruff voice.
Tabitha shrugged dismissively, failing to hide how touched she felt by the underlying compliment. “Hang around Ayana and Liena long enough, you’ll have no choice but to become one,” she said with pretend annoyance.
That made my brothers chuckle. The discreet smile which appeared on Chaos’s face confirmed he was letting go of his anger and making peace with what appeared to be the inevitable. While I kept a neutral expression, my shoulders relaxed. The relief that flooded me echoed the one plain to see on my brothers’ faces.
“Now, however, I want to hear more about that attack on Zekuro,” Tabitha said, steering the conversation onto a more neutral terrain which definitely had all of us perking up with interest.
“The Coalition is already massing and so is the Vanguard,” Chaos said with a fierce glint in his eyes. “We believe the Kryptid Queen has been attempting to contact us, but any signal that manages to reach us is jumbled and cuts off within seconds.”
“The General is blocking it,” Reaper said with conviction. “His Mimics have killed most of Aitxa’s other Generals. From the last few communications we received, only three of her Generals remained. The nursery Workers are busy enhancing a new batch of her young into future Generals, but it will be at least a year before they are mature enough to be able to impregnate the Queen, and at least another couple of years before they reach full offensive and defensive maturity. She’s panicking.”
“Her war is backfiring on her,” Chaos said without an ounce of compassion.
“It’s not her war,” I countered. “It’s the General’s war. Sixty years ago, her hive planet had become overpopulated. Aitxa gave Khutu full control of her army to find a new, uninhabited or low-population planet to colonize. As you can guess, he used that to start conquering the galaxy. By the time she realized he’d abused his powers, the Kryptids were already at war with dozens of planets.”
“But why didn’t she simply discharge him of duty and put someone else in his place?” Tabitha asked.
“Because he already fully controlled the Army as well as most of the Queen’s advisors,” I replied. “He strictly monitored any communication that reached her and the other Generals, feeding the population with misleading propaganda about the evil Coalition wishing to crush them to steal their wondrous technological advances and turn them into slave labor.”
“So, what could she want?” Tabitha asked.
“First, to find out the truth about the reason for the war. And if Khutu indeed misled her about the Coalition being the original aggressor, to initiate a cease-fire and peace talks,” Reaper said.
“And probably even to discuss joining forces in taking out Khutu,” Dread said.
“Really?” my woman exclaimed, surprised.
“He has the majority of her army, all of them well-trained. Whereas she mostly has the young Soldiers, still very green,” Rogue explained. “Once he’s killed the remaining Generals, the Soldiers will all bow to him. She will be forced to submit to Khutu and accept him as sole consort.”
“No,” I interjected. “He will kill her and set one of the Mimics as the new Queen.”
“Mimics can’t produce eggs,” Chaos argued.
“These Mimics take on the abilities of whatever being they’re morphed into,” I replied, shuddering inside at the thought of the fate I’d blessedly escaped. “Each egg she lays will be an enhanced Soldier. Considering the Queen lays on average one thousand eggs a day, you can only imagine what that will mean.”
“How long before they’ve grown enough to be able to battle?” Tabitha asked.
“Green and poorly trained, about a month,” Rogue said. “Strong enough to present a serious challenge? About five months. But as they will be enhanced, their maturing time might be significantly reduced.”
Tabitha shivered, a horrified expression descending on her delicate elven features.
“Which is why we need to take out the General as soon as possible,” I said. “He wanted to give me a harem of modified Mimics that he referred to as my ‘queens’ instead of as my ‘brides’ like he calls our mothers. That makes me think he intended for them to lay our offspring as Kryptid queens. Five queens laying one thousand eggs a day for one month, would mean one hundred and fifty thousand enhanced Soldiers with rebirth capability within an extra month.”
“He would be unstoppable,” Chaos whispered, horrified. He scraped at the golden scales on his forehead, a telltale sign that he’d been shaken. “Thankfully, you managed to escape him.”
“But that doesn’t mean we’re safe,” I cautioned. “Khutu has been enhancing himself as well for decades. I have no idea what it involves and what that cou
ld mean for any offspring he sires on the Mimics.”
“All the more reason we need to take him out now,” Chaos said.
“So, what’s the plan?” Tabitha asked.
“A Vanguard fleet akin to the one that had been sent to Earth during the Kryptid invasion is massing as we speak. We are to rendezvous with them in four days. The Coalition will follow behind,” Chaos replied.
“What about Khepri?” Tabitha asked.
“No worries, Timbits. We’re never again leaving Khepri as poorly defended as we had back then. This was too painful a lesson to learn.”
“Timbits?” I asked, taken aback by the unusual nickname.
Tabitha’s cheeks burned, and she glared at Chaos who smirked without remorse. He was clearly giving her some payback for something.
“Never mind that,” she mumbled, dismissively.
But from the look on my face, she could guess that I would make her confess later.
We spent the next couple of hours going over the general details of the intended attack. For a battle on such a large scale, it was seriously rushed. But with each passing day, Khutu was reinforcing his defenses and beefing up his ranks with Drone Swarms and who only knew what other inventions.
When the meeting finally came to an end, everyone having specific tasks to handle, Chaos requested to see our mothers. Even though we’d all known he would, it still cast a dark shadow over the room and revived the pain clawing at my hearts.
“I will take you,” Rogue said in a soft voice. “My mother was your first human Soulcatcher.”
“You are Meredith’s son?” Chaos asked in a choked voice.
“We both are,” Reaper replied. “Come on,” he said, placing a hand on the back of Chaos’s shoulder to nudge him on. “She spoke often of you with high regards.”
I gently took my Queen’s hand as we watched their receding backs. In that instant, more than any other, it became clear that no matter how we had come to be, Xians and Dragons were one big family. And family stuck together.
* * *
The city buzzed with an almost electric energy as we prepared for the upcoming battle. We had not yet spread the word about the second exodus to what could become our new permanent homeworld; the world our mothers had meant for us to live in to begin with. We only told the others that very positive discussions were ongoing and that the Xian Warriors had pledged to assist us either way.
