18. Revelations of a Queen
Chapter 18
Revelations of a Queen
Isabella
H ow did I like the saltare? Isa grimaced, feeling put on the spot. The way Andren stared expectantly at her didn’t help.
She panned her hive and then made herself give the Nemus another look as they left the field. She needed a moment to compose her thoughts. If she said the wrong thing, she might upset the Nemus and kickoff a fight. Plus, she’d always been taught to be nice about such subjects. Afterall, she had no business judging a dance she knew nothing about. She certainly couldn’t share her actual thoughts.
You gotta say something!
Isa finished surveying the crowd and noticed that more than Andren was waiting for her answer. All of the Vorto were talking, debating the merits of each hive’s performance, but now all eyes were on her.
“I found the Tumulus’ saltare very compelling.” Truthfully, she wanted to jump Phara’s bones, but she couldn’t say that. “And the Nemus’ saltare was rather enthusiastic,” which was as nice as she could muster.
“Yes!” Phara crowed triumphantly.
“Wu ha!” Andren slapped his chest proudly.
She jumped when the two hives cheered, startled by their reaction. The moment it registered, she relaxed and smiled.
I’ll take cheering over a brawl breaking out any day. Her shoulders eased.
“My turn!” Artifex declared. “Keep up,” he taunted his counterpart in the Nemus Hive as he ran toward the field.
Isa slapped a hand over her mouth to cover her grin, tickled by his brazen attitude and the impish glint in his eyes. Distracted by his exuberance, she didn’t hear who they announced as winner of the first round.
Artifex leapt into the air and turned into a screo the second his feet were off the ground. He was joined by a dozen of his servitor betas and gammas who jumped toward Artifex hovering in the air. Isa’s grin turned into a shocked gasp when they melded with Artifex’s body, forming one giant raptor. He was now the size of a hover van. Her mouth hung open. It was still surprising that the Vorto could transform into animals, but they could also meld together as one creature. It was too much.
Lehzen swiftly followed with a score of his people, though they didn’t meld together as one big bird like her guys did.
“Wow!” Isa finally found her voice. She shook her head in amazement and disbelief at the stunning feat as the two teams flew toward the woods at the far end of the prairie. “What are they doing for this round?”
When her hive was studying their archives, she’d been too tired and frazzled to pay attention. Isa regretted that now, especially since they wanted to know her opinion for the first round.
“Each hive must show their prowess by bringing back the most game,” Phara replied.
That explained why Artifex and his fellow servitors were part of this round. They were the hive’s hunters.
“It must be deposited safely inside the arena,” Andren added with a smirk directed at Phara.
Isa’s brow furrowed at the somewhat sinister comment that hinted at a strategy that wasn’t mentioned in their overly simplified explanation.
“Um, okay.” She turned her gaze back to the field.
Sports were never her thing back home. When her brother and father watched soccer, she’d been in the kitchen with her mom or studying. At least this round sounded like it would have a definitive winner. She still wasn’t sure who won the last one.
“Oh, who is that?” Isa pointed and squinted at someone flying toward the makeshift arena.
“That was fast,” Bellator commented.
“It was.” She smiled at him over her shoulder. He’d been quiet all morning, and she worried he fibbed about feeling well enough to compete.
“Oh,” Rego groaned in disappointment.
She turned back in time to see an orange and yellow eagle drop something that looked like a rabbit into the circle. She expected him to go back out hunting again, but he simply hovered overhead. Apparently, his turn was done. A minute later another of the Nemus eagles dropped another rabbit, and hovered with his teammate. Isa looked toward the woods with a frown, wondering where her hive was.
Gregis growled in frustration. “They must’ve found a nest of culus .”
“Or the Nemus are very adept hunters,” Andren boasted, his confident gaze focused on her.
“I’m sure you are.” She politely smiled, though that wasn’t the face she wanted to make at him.
Phara burst out laughing and her gaze swung to him.
“What?!” she demanded, suddenly embarrassed. Had he read her mind about wanting to stick her tongue out at Andren?
“It would seem Artifex wants to swiftly put an end to this hunt,” Phara chuckled, pointing to the forest.
What looked like a buffalo was clutched in the talons of the oversized purple hawk. If the other Nemus eagles who were also returning caught anything, it was too small to tell at this distance.
“Oh my. That is a big creature.” Isa grinned. It was just like Artifex to do something over the top like this. Check and mate.
“They’ve got a whole pecus! ” Andren declared in awe.
“We understand what is at stake,” Bellator murmured the snarky retort.
He was talking about her, and she couldn’t help but grin wider, feeling all warm inside.
A pair of Nemus eagles attacked the oversized version of Artifex as he flew over the prairie. They were the Nemus who had already dropped their kill. The eagles swooped in and gouged Artifex’s back with their sharp talons.
“Hey.” She frowned.
Another Nemus reached the circle, dropped its prey, and joined in the attack. She didn’t like this trend, since there were eight more eagles coming in hot.
The number of eagles haranguing Artifex quickly doubled. Her brazen alpha faltered, as a portion of him dropped away. The purple blob fell to the ground. Except it wasn’t a blob. That was a person, a member of her hive who’d been injured, forced to separate, and plummeted to the ground.
“No.” Isa gasped and was on the edge of her seat.
An instant later, the same purple blob turned into a hawk and shot off the ground, again melding with Artifex. She sighed, relieved he wasn’t hurt, and slumped back in her seat.
“Steady! Keep a hold of that pecus ,” Phara cheered on his hive, as more of the eagles tried to force Artifex to drop the beast. Phara was joined by the rest of her hive, yipping and barking.
“It's not easy staying fused like that,” Rego commented to her in between excited whistles.
All the Nemus eagles had deposited their prey in the arena, and it was a small pile. If Artifex made it with the giant cow, her hive would definitely win this round.
“Come on, Artifex!” She clapped her hands, then remembered more than just Artifex made up the giant purple hawk. “Come on, servitors!” she excitedly amended.
Phara grinned at her and whooped loudly, copying her by clapping his hands. Her hive followed suit. The Nemus also copied her, clapping for their hive. Very quickly the cheering and clapping was its own noisy competition between the hives.
Her giant purple hawk must’ve heard their encouragement and flapped harder. Overgrown Artifex was almost to the circular arena when out of nowhere an orange eagle the size of a minibus dove in, its talons aimed for Artifex’s head. While they were distracted cheering, the Nemus eagles had sneakily joined together to make one large bird. It was a sound strategy. It really was the only way to stop the oversized Artifex, but she didn’t like it. Her hive hadn’t attacked the Nemus once.
“Hey!” Isa declared.
Artifex dipped, avoiding attack just in time, but that didn’t make her feel any better. This competition had taken a serious turn. As crazy as it was, no one had been hurt yet, since the Vorto were so malleable, but her guys were capable of being injured.
She held her breath as Artifex swooped toward the arena, the giant eagle on his tail. Artifex dodged left, narrowly avoiding a sharp beak. The move sent him into a spin. He rolled, hitting the ground just inside the arena. The giant purple hawk burst, and a dozen balls of plasm scattered across the playing field, kicking up dirt and debris.
“Oh!” Isa gasped as she stood up from her chair.
The dust cleared to reveal Artifex standing along with the dozen other purple servitors from her hive. They were all grinning like they hadn’t just eaten dirt sandwiches. She let out the breath she was holding, grateful they appeared uninjured.
“My queen!” Artifex proudly gestured to the pecus laying inside the arena.
“You did it!” She excitedly clapped.
“We won that round,” Phara confidently informed Andren.
Bellator
Bellator let out a relieved sigh when Artifex secured the last round. Except, to truly win the Conlatus , his hive had to be victorious in this final round, too. He didn’t relish the violence that was about to ensue. The prospect had been bothering him the whole rotation. He had sparred with his brethren and neighboring hives for sport, but they never severed plasm during training, that was crossing a line. During the Conlatus there was no line.
Isa was smiling at Artifex and congratulating the servitors exiting the ring. Her happy twitters, her radiance, and how she affected his hive filled him with indescribable joy. He wasn’t entirely sure he deserved Queen Isa with the way he stretched the rules when he found her, after all it was his duty to uphold the rules. And yet, he wanted her, needed her, desperately. After having a taste of something so wonderful, he wasn’t about to let her slip through his fingers.
So, if I have to shed plasm to prove I am worthy of her, that is what I’ll do.
“Invicta, Militus.” Bellator nodded to his betas and they marched toward the arena.
Isabella
“I was worried when one of you fell. I forgot how resilient you guys are.” Isa smiled at Artifex, Operar, and the other servitors as they crowded under the tent.
“We are.” Operar gently squeezed her arm before going to grab a drink.
She glanced briefly at the Nemus. They looked disappointed by the outcome. She nodded at Lehzen, Artifex’s counterpart, not sure what to say.
“Good hunt,” Artifex provided an answer.
“Yes, good hunt.” She attempted a pleasant smile, though it was hard since she was still ticked off at the way the Nemus attacked her men.
“I must admit that was a clever strategy,” Lehzen conceded.
That was an understatement, since her hive had just a night to learn everything about this competition.
Congratulations were still being passed around when Bellator marched out of the tent, followed by two of his legionnaire betas. Her teddy bear was wearing the same stoic expression he’d had all day. He was ready to be done with this competition. She couldn’t blame him. More adrenaline pumped through her with every round, bringing her closer to having to go live with strangers.
Soleno, the Nemus legionnaire, the same one that ambushed them, squared off with Bellator. Two of Soleno’s betas joined him, and stood toe to toe with Invicta and Militus. They were fifty feet away and still the tension was palpable as the trios glared at each other. She wasn’t the only one to notice, because both hives grew uncomfortably quiet, focusing on the arena. As frazzled as she was about this competition, she understood the Nemus placed all the blame on Bellator, since he was the one who’d taken her. Bellator did, too, which broke her heart.
“What’s this round?” Isa nervously asked.
“Combat,” Phara replied.
“Oh.” She sank back into her seat, her stomach plummeting.
Bellator reached out and clasped Soleno’s forearm. The two pairs of betas did the same. It was a goodwill gesture, but she wasn’t feeling the goodwill. In unison, both sides parted. Invicta and Militus stepped into Bellator. Their bodies fused with his as he shifted, turning into a bear-cat, the fero . He was three times as large as the one she rode through the forest, and infinitely more ferocious as he roared and charged. Bellator slammed into the gorilla the Nemus trio had become. The powerful thud echoed across the prairie.
“Uuh,” Isa gasped in shock, recoiling in her seat. The fight had definitely begun. Her breath and heart sped up.
The giant orange gorilla attempted to slap Bellator away, but he bit down on the gorilla’s forearm and yanked Soleno off balance, tossing him to the ground. Bellator didn’t let up and continued shaking his head. Soleno roared in pain when his arm and part of his torso separated from his hairy gorilla body.
Oh god! She gasped in horror, not sure if she saw organs before the strange Vorto biology kicked in and sealed the wound. Where the wound had been, a new arm started rapidly growing, reforming a smaller gorilla. If there was a new arm, what was happening to the old one? Her gaze swung toward Bellator.
The severed arm fluxed into plasm and dangled from Bellator’s jaws, slowly oozing toward the ground. He spat it out, and it instantly morphed into one of Soleno’s betas.
“What the…” She blinked, perpetually stunned by the Vorto’s abilities and mortified by the violence at the same time.
Soleno and his beta rolled out of striking distance and remerged. Bellator followed, slashing with his paws. Soleno kept backing away. Bellator changed tactics. While reared up on his hindlegs, he shifted into Vorto form. If she thought the Vorto were tall before, this version of Bellator mixed with Invicta and Militus was absolutely huge. His fists looked like weapons of mass destruction as he swung at the overgrown orange gorilla. She cringed, scrunching up in her seat as the pair traded kicks and punches.
“No. No. No. No,” she murmured, though it was drowned out by each hive shouting advice to either Bellator or Soleno.
Bellator made a sweeping kick. As his foot made contact, Soleno’s arm formed a blade, and stabbed Bellator in the chest. Militus, Invicta, and Bellator instantly separated, and Bellator lay convulsing on the ground. He was having trouble holding his humanoid form, his plasm was pouring out of his gut, staining the dirt like blood.
“No!” Isa screamed. She leapt off her seat and raced inside the circle. “Stop this!” she wailed, getting between Soleno and her teddy bear. “Stop. Someone please help Bellator.” She dropped down beside him, tears flooding her eyes.
To her surprise, Soleno stepped back, his horrible giant blade turning back into an arm, as he separated from his two betas.
Her hive swarmed around Bellator, looking equally shocked.
“Please! Please help him,” she pleaded with Artifex and Phara as her hands fluttered over Bellator. If he was human, she’d know what to do, put pressure on the wound, but he wasn’t.
The grim expression on Artifex and Phara’s faces made her tears flow faster.
“My queen, I’m sorry I failed you,” Bellator rasped, his mournful voice in her mind already sounding weak.
“No! You did not fail me!” Isa adamantly shook her head. “We have to do something, now! We have to get him back to the hive. Use that machine that fixed me?”
“It is reserved for queens,” Bellator murmured.
“No. Please. Use it on him!” she demanded as she caressed Bellator’s trembling cheek.
“All right.” Artifex nodded.
Artifex fused with the other servitors from their hive, fluxing into a truly large purple hawk. Gently they picked Bellator up with their talons and took off for the mountain.
“Fly fast.” She blew them a kiss.
She wanted to go with them, to be by her sweet teddy bear’s side. She would have if it weren’t for this stupid competition. This horrible tragedy undoubtedly meant her hive lost the Conlatus , but at the moment all she cared about was whether Bellator would be okay.
Isa looked away from the shrinking sight of Bellator being rushed to their mountain home, to find Soleno, Andren, Lehzen and the rest of the Nemus gathered opposite of Phara and her hive. Both sides were staring expectantly at her.
What fresh hell is going to happen now? Her shoulders slumped. She knew this day was going to be terrible. She’d read about ancient war games on Earth, yet that didn’t begin to compare to seeing the violence up close. Supposedly this was better than full blown war between the hives, but it didn’t feel better. Her heart was breaking.
“Did you decide, my queen?” Andren asked her.
“Did I decide?” Isa cocked her head. Maybe the midday alien sun was cooking her brains. But that couldn’t be the case because she’d been under shelter all morning. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Decide what?”
The Nemus trio and even Phara looked confused.
“The winner of the Conlatus . You decide what hive you want,” Galis answered.
For a moment Isa thought Galis had oversimplified things, since he was prone to doing that. Except, the way both hives continued to stare at her, they were seriously waiting for her to answer.
It felt like she was struck by a bolt of lightning. Isa staggered from the shock.
Could it honestly be that simple? She wandered back to her seat under the leafy awning.
Everything that happened that day tumbled through her mind. The Conlatus started with a dance. She’d joked to herself that it was a mating dance since Phara’s moves were so erotic. But maybe it actually was a mating dance, showing off the skills of the consorts from both hives.
They asked me what I thought afterward. I complimented them both and they both cheered.
The hunt showcased the skills of the servitors, and the combat round did the same for the legionnaires.
But I didn’t declare a winner for the hunt. Her brow furrowed. Except she had chosen a winner by default when she cheered for her hive. And they just stopped the fight when I demanded it.
“Are you telling me I could’ve stopped all of this before Bellator was hurt?” She started to hyperventilate.
Phara’s grimace was the only answer she needed.
“Oh god.” Isa covered her mouth. “I didn’t understand.”
Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. They called her their queen and they truly meant it. Back home no one cared about her wants, feelings, needs, any of it. They certainly wouldn’t have listened to her and halted a war. It was unfathomable on Earth. Except this wasn’t Earth.
Isa stood and focused on the trio of Nemus alphas. “I am sorry. I am sure you are a wonderful hive, but you’re just not for me.”
She held her breath for a moment as disappointment swept across Andren, Lehzen and Soleno’s faces, expecting them to aggressively object, but then all the Nemus simply dropped to their knees and bowed to her.
It was over! This terrible business was truly over. There wasn’t going to be a giant war, and she got to keep her hive. Suddenly Isa was lightheaded, as relief swamped her. Although she wouldn’t be completely relieved until she was with Bellator and he was healed.
Isa turned to Phara. “Please take me home.”