Chapter 22 Li-aq
Chapter twenty-two
Li-aq
"Son, we've had to retreat," my commander's voice pierced through my mind.
"You'll survive the molt fever, you have to.
I know I've been tough on you, but no one can know how important you are.
No one can know that you are the spawn of Queen Sarak.
You are my spawn, and you will survive this.
I don't have much time, they will be looking for me, but this ship will protect you as you heal. "
The whirring of an engine made the images of my surroundings fuzzy. My kan ached from the interference.
"Queen Kai is protecting our species. Sending those with molt fever to die in a blaze of glory, while also securing her own clan's future.
You will return to Krelis and work your way up her trusted ranks.
Mate with the queen if necessary. You are the last direct spawn of Queen Sarak and you must only spawn with a queen.
Do you hear me son? You will spawn a new hive and rebuild Hive Sarak.
Do not fool around. There is only one krelin who knows who you are. Find her. Domsal."
When I said nothing, he repeated, "Domsal. Say the name, boy!"
I felt the sting of a hand slapping against the wound on my face from where the estreld dug out my flesh.
"Say the name!"
"Domsal," I choked out, barely aware of my surroundings.
"Good," he said again while slapping me once more to keep my conscience. "You are a prince. The only prince left of Queen Sarak. Remember who you are. Tell no one, but Domsal. She will help you."
I grunted my understanding.
My eyes opened to see my commander, and possibly my father hovering over me. His wings were charred and peeling from his bones, half his face was melted, his teeth showing through his bloody cheek, as flesh dripped from his chin.
It must have been painful to talk, I thought as he heaved above me.
"I give my life for you. Don't let it be in vain," he coughed, blood spitting on my face.
"The ship still works, but the landing gears are melted, you will crash land back on Krelis.
This is one of the fastest ships of the fleet.
Use the grappling arms to land as safely as possible.
You will orbit the planet until you wake up to land.
You will wake!" He slapped me on the arm that I didn't even realize was absent from my mind.
I looked down to see it was black and purple, and my father had placed a medpack directly on the injury.
"Where are you going?" I begged as he crawled on his knees and hands with his wings deformed and melted at a grotesque angle.
"They need to know I'm dead, and they need to think that the melted remains of Aram are you. No one can know you survived. Queen Sarak named you Li-aq because you were her star directly from the Goddess Lenkal. Blood of Stars."
All my life I'd thought my name meant the tears of rock, and never thought about the other definition of Li-aq.
Nectar of the Stars.
I watched as my commander fell from the ship's door, and the engines roared to life. The land was scorched outside the ship, black tarnpul sand solidified too far to see beyond. The desert turned to glassy rock, steam rising from the surface.
One truth echoed in my mind. My commander, my father, covered me with his own wings to protect me. His own body melted from the radiation, and the only medpacks on ship covered my body, not a single one was used on himself.
The door screeched into place, blinding me from the outside world. One day the trill and the estrelds would pay for their part in trying to exterminate my species.
It was the trill that sent the virus to our planet, and it was the estrelds that protected him, while their clan had the cure held protected in their labs.
If I survived this molt fever then my father was right, and the estrelds held the cure all along and let our species die.
Let my whole clan perish. I was all that was left.