The Blood Empress (11 page)

The shuttle had broken apart and the wreckage lay strewn all around the nearest dune. She found the fabric from her gown and wrapped it over her head to form a turban to protect her from the sun. Then she struck out towards the wreckage in search of water and supplies.

It took a long time to reach the shuttle crash. She fell down many times from exhaustion and rested until she had the strength to continue. When she finally got there she was unprepared for what she saw - bodies ripped apart and twisted metal everywhere. She pressed on, looking for water and food amongst the carnage and debris.

Finally she found a few pouches of water and some food containers. It would not last long, but it would buy her some time before others came.
Surly they w
ill
attempt to come after
me
,
I'm their
Empress.

As she looked around she got the distinct feeling that nobody else was coming.

She was slowly began to realize that she was indeed alone. For the first time on her journey she started to become afraid. She slid down the warm dune until she slipped into the shadowed side where the sand was cooler and she was out of the oppressive rays of the sun.

Her soft blue skin was already darkening. More of it was exposed to the light of day now than at any time in her sheltered life growing up on the throne. This planet was warmer and harsher than any climate she had experienced on Voton. Voton was cold and overcast all the time. This planet appeared to be hot and dry all the time which made it all the more foreign to her.

She ripped open the only water pouch she had found and drank it all in one long gulp. As she finished she realized how dumb that had been, water was never something she had to conserve before, but now she may have just doomed herself to a quicker death. Not to mention Verrad.
Verrad
!

Getting to her feet she hurried back across the dunes to where he was lying. He was still out cold but his chest rose and fell with breath. He had no obvious injuries from the crash but then she was not trained in life preservation skills. Most Votainions were not. If you were injured or grew sick in Votainion society you usually just went off somewhere and died, like an injured animal. Unless, of course, you were the Empress.

She put Verrad's head up on a rolled piece of fabric from the fighter's interior. Then she laid back down beside him to wait for another rescue attempt. The heat of the day had sapped more of her strength than she realized.

Nykostra eventually drifted off to sleep thinking about why the Kwerza-Ni on this world had chosen to hide behind a mask.

She awoke to a fierce headache that seemed to penetrate into her skull like a falchion's blade. All around her and Verrad were thousands of brown beetles. They were each the size of her thumb, their back legs jacked up their bodies off the hot sands. She brushed them off her clothes and arms and legs. A few were crawling through her hair and she shook them off with disgusted screams.

They were everywhere around her and more seemed to be streaming down the nearest dune. She brushed them off Verrad as best that she could and tried to wake him with slaps to his face. He didn't respond. She flicked the horrible beetles off his face and then started to drag him away from them. The swarming mass of insects followed her and so did the mind numbing pain in her head.

She dropped his hands and started kicking at the beetles in frustration. They started climbing up her legs. She could feel their horrid, sticky limbs trying to cling to her sweaty skin. It disgusted her more than anything she had ever experienced before. She kept slapping at them and brushing them off her and Verrad, but it was a losing battle. Finally she ran away, screaming like a crazy woman from the maddening sound in her head.

Someone grabbed her and picked her up off the sand. She could not see who it was or what it was, so overcome by the pressing pain in her temples. Her last sight before passing out was seeing Verrad's body being swarmed by the brown beetles.

***

When Nykostra awoke the pain in her head was still there but it was muted enough to allow her rational thought. She was laying in an earthen room carved out of rock and dirt. It was a few degrees cooler than the desert, but not cold enough to be comfortable for her. She was still sweating and her mouth was dry. There was a cup of clear liquid beside her and she brought it to her nose. It smelled like dirt so she drank it down and was relieved that it was cool water.

A stinger of pain caused her to wince. The headache from before was back causing her to set the empty cup down and push on her temples with her thumbs. A rustling sound forced opened her eyes in time to see a brown and tan colored figure walk into the room.

Squinting her eyes from the sharp pain she tried to see who it was. It was not Votainion. It had two distinct heads and a tail that it wrapped around itself as it sat before her.
It was a Benzotii
. She backed away from it into the cool earthen wall of the room.

The Benzotii sat silently looking at her with its ecru, scaly heads. She had never seen one of them up close before. It was like a child's nightmare. Two huge, toothy mouths atop a body with four arms, each with hands that had six clawed fingers. If it were going to eat her, she wished it would be quick about it because the pain in her head was more intense than ever before.

It spoke something at her that sounded like a person choking. She shook her head and pushed on her temples in to make her own pain decrease. It seemed fascinated by her condition. One of its heads looked at her as a biologist might have studied an ant. The other head seemed preoccupied. One of the beast's arms pointed to the cup and then to her. She nodded.

It produced a water pouch from around its waist and proceeded to refill her cup from it. The Benzotii set it down before her.

She waited for it to lean away before snatching the water and guzzling it down. She tossed the empty cup to the creature and it easily snatched it out of the air and refilled it.

This time the Benzotii handed it to her with its clawed fingers. She took it from him and brought it to her mouth. But she did not drink it. Watching the alien closely she set it down beside her and pointed to her head. The nearest head of the Benzotii tilted as it tried to decipher what she was trying to convey.

She pushed on her head and squinted in pain. She had no idea if it understood the concept of pain or even a headache. The top two arms mimicked her and she nodded, pointing to her forehead again.

The two heads of the Benzotii appeared to talk to each other back and forth in their screeching language. The massive alien rose up and left the room through a simple cloth flap.

Nykostra ventured towards the flap and peeked through the filthy brown cloth. It smelled of the Benzotii, a mixture spoiled food and sand. Outside were more earthen rooms with cloth doors. She wondered if one of them contained Verrad.

She put a hand to her forehead again. The pain had receded slightly. She ducked back inside upon hearing the shuffling of the returning Benzotii. The pain returned again, even more intense. She pushed her temples hard and watched the door.

The alien came in carrying a tray with some green and brown lumps and a wooden spoon. It offered her the tray and she took it. One of the heads spoke something to her but she didn't understand it. The other head just stared at her with those glossy brown, alien eyes.

She picked up the spoon and steeled her mouth for the inevitable nastiness of the brown goop. Her eye brows lifted as she tasted the unsightly food. It was not half bad, either that or she was more famished than she had thought. Another twinge of pain forced her to stop eating for a moment until it leveled out again.

She nodded to the alien, hoping it would go away. Its heads bounced up and down in a strange form of non-verbal communication and then it left again. She spooned down the rest of the brown dish and then tried the green. It was every bit as nasty as she had imagined it would be. But she forced it down anyway. Not knowing when she would be fed again. She washed out her mouth with the rest of the water from her cup. Slowly the pain receded again and now she was starting to catch on why.

There was something about the Benzotii that caused her pain. But she had no idea what or how that was even possible. If she had been captured, as she feared she had been, it meant that she would be in for more pain.
All the more reason to try and escape.

She crawled over to the entrance flap again and pulled it back carefully. She could hear the alien making noises in the room across from her. Was it tending to Verrad or was it eating him?

Nykostra retreated until she heard it leave. Then she ventured out of her room and scurried over to the room across from her. Pulling back the cloth flap she saw Verrad laying on the dirt floor with some kind of contraption over his head. It was Benzotii tech and she couldn't decide if it was healing him or preserving him. She knew that they liked to eat animals and made no distinction between sentient ones and non-sentient.

Verrad actually looked a little better than the last time she saw him. His face was pale blue almost as pale as her own. His expression calm and content. They probably weren't eating him after all.

"He's resting peacefully," a voice said from behind her.

Nykostra turned quickly and saw an older Votainion woman standing in the doorway. She was dressed in rags and looked like she had not bathed in a long time. The woman's skin was a yellowish tint, like the sand itself.

"Don't be alarmed. I'm Veasa. We found you both in the desert under siege from the tronks. Another few minutes and you would have been a pile of dry bones."

Nykostra managed a grateful smile.

"What is your name, darling?"

"Kaleen. He is Verrad."

The woman moved beside Verrad and checked the strange instrument.

"Do you live with that alien?" she asked. Referring to the Benzotii.

"His name is Testor. He's not an alien, Kaleen. We're the aliens. This is his planet we're occupying."

Nykostra nodded and looked at Verrad. "Will he live?"

The woman looked at her strangely, as if it were a heartless question.

"Of course he will honey, we're not savages."

She pulled the machine away from Verrad and gently shook his shoulder. His eyes fluttered and then opened. Looking up at the woman he shook his head questioningly.

"You're safe, son. For now."

Veasa looked at Nykostra her face more serious than before.

"We must be moving on soon. This desert is not a safe place after dark."

She stood up to leave and stopped at the doorway looking back at Nykostra.

"I don't think we'll be able to return you to the Kastra. If that's where you are from. We're heading further south where we will join our clan. You're welcome to travel with us if you want."

Nykostra nodded. "Thank you," she said.

Veasa turned away and left without another word.

"My Emp..." Verrad began until she cut him off.

"My name is Kaleen. She doesn't know who we are and I think it best we not inform her. At least for now."

He agreed and set his head back down.

"Are you well?" Nykostra asked. Her tone was flat and seemingly uncaring.

"I feel like I've been run over by a heard of varson."

"Does your head ache at all?"

"No."

She looked away towards the door. Her head still pounded although it was more tolerable whenever the Benzotii was not around. She elected not to tell him about her pain.

"We had better stay with them for now. If the Benzotii offers you food, don't eat the green stuff."

He nodded. Then said, "The Benzotii?"

“Near as I can tell Veasa has partnered with one. He has been treating you and looking in on me, bringing me food and water."

"He's probably going to eat us all eventually."

Nykostra shook her head curtly. "I don't think so."

"Did the warship not send a shuttle for us?"

She looked down at him and lowered her voice.

"They did but the Benzotii shot it down. All aboard were killed."

Verrad put his fingers to his forehead and sighed. "They won't try again until dark. Or until the battle is over."

"The old woman seemed to think being out in the desert was not a good idea after dark."

"Not a problem for my men. They have night ops gear. They'll find us."

Nykostra went to the door and looked down the rocky cavern path. She could see the sky darkening already.

"We'll find out soon enough, the sun is setting."

***

The night came quickly and was colder than Nykostra imagined. They borrowed blankets from Veasa and huddled together in the same room, for warmth. Nykostra slept soundly, free from her constant headache. The Benzotii woke them before dawn and they were on the move as the eastern sky began to brighten.

Veasa and the huge Benzotii had been traveling to a nearby town to sell their copper pots and pans. Their tribe were Vedians, desert nomads that lived off the barren land and were largely ignored by the Votainion Kastra in the larger cities of Vac One.

Because of their nomadic lifestyle the Vedians had discovered pockets of Benzotii living in the desert and befriended them. Over time they had learned to communicate and formed a friendship with the aliens. Nykostra sensed an unusual sympathy towards the indigenous life by Veasa. She was fascinated by how at ease the woman was with the alien, even speaking its screeching language.

They traveled on a wheeled vehicle of Benzotii design. It was well suited to moving over sand dunes, but it didn't offer much protection from the sun. A dirty cloth cover over the cab was their only shade. The further they traveled away from the crash site the less likely they were going to be found by Verrad's search team. He had protested moving at all, but their guests were not staying put and they needed the locals to survive.

By midday they had reached a rocky outcrop that marked the beginning of foothills to a great mountain range. Verrad had searched the skies for any signs of a rescue shuttle but had eventually given up on it.