Page 2 of Survivor
My younger brother Vreses was the queen—my mother’s—pride and joy. Despite my status as the eldest and rightful heir to the throne, my mother regarded me with resentment and a deep sense of shame. Like many of my kind, I had failed to master the ability toshift my scales. Among Zarpazians, those who could transform their scales from our multicolored origins to all-black gained the power of shapeshifting. A skill that was both revered and feared.
Despite the grueling, often excruciating training sessions my mother subjected me to, the ability to transmute my scales remained elusive. Instead, a striking swathe of teal and purple stubbornly adorned my right side, stretching from shoulder to thigh like a banner announcing my inadequacy.
My father, the king, was like myself, with a section of his torso perpetually retaining the vibrant hues of his birthright. My mother hailed from a warrior faction in the north who had learned to shift their scales through force. She and her kind believed Zarpazians who could not shift their scales were inferior, and she never let my father forget it. Their union was purely political, a strategic alliance forged to try to bring peace to a planet on the brink of civil war.
When I came into the world, my mother seized upon the disgrace of my inadequacy, using it as leverage to eventually have my father exiled and seize power. My brother, Vreses, was born from her affair with an assassin who met his end during an attempt to eliminate Duke Ako’s human mate many years before. Vreses had inherited his father’s lethal prowess,carving out a fearsome reputation as the deadliest assassin in the universe—until stopped by a human female who killed him while protecting her mate.
Most, like me, considered Vreses devoid of honor. He was ruthless and unscrupulous, a male who reveled in chaos. My mother, however, viewed him differently. To her, Vreses was a beacon of what she envisioned for our people—lethal and feared warriors, using our shapeshifting abilities to bend the universe to our will.
To say she did not react well to news of his death was a gross understatement.
“You know she has not given up on revenge,” Diarvet grumbled, his eyes scanning over the plethora of books and parchments littering the tabletop.
“The Alliance Prime forbid her from taking any action against the human female who killed Vreses,” I reminded him. Rumor had it the particular human female had mated with the Alliance Prime’s son.
“True,” my cousin gave. Bright blue eyes that echoed the color of the scales across his chest narrowed with disgust. “But she has shifted her aim. Now she plans to capture an innocent human female and bring them here for theaakdani.”
The mere mention of the aakdani sent a shiver down my spine and made my stomach churn with unease. The ancient and barbaric practice harkened back to a time when our ancestors roamed the planet more feral than civilized. The aakdani was a ritualistic method of torture. A gruesome ordeal involving the infliction of a thousand cuts on the victim’s body. The torturers meticulously calculated each incision to cause unbearable pain and blood loss while keeping the victim alive. Following the thousand cuts, torturers intensified the suffering by meticulously peeling strips of skin from the victim’s body, inch by agonizing inch. The torment of enduring the aakdanidrove most victims into madness long before the merciful release of death.
“I heard her talking to Seibring this morning,” Diarvet continued, his face twisting with disgust. “She is sending him to capture a lone human female from the Hanze Erreinua space station.” He shrugged his shoulders almost casually, although I could tell from the tenseness of his muscles that her plan bothered him considerably. “The queen is so fastidious, I’m amazed she would risk stinking up the castle with a human?”
To Zarpazians, humans smelled sweet, sickeningly sweet. Most could not bear the smell, surrendering to the nausea it caused. Probably the only reason my mother hadn’t tried to conquer Earth was because she couldn’t stand the smell.
“No!” I slammed my fist on the tabletop, making the books and scrolls bounce. “This cannot happen.” Seibring, a distant cousin from my mother’s tribe of warriors, was known for his brutality. The human female might be alive when she reached our planet, but under his hand, she would wish she wasn’t.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
I glanced at my cousin, noticing the sly glint in his gaze. He had not come solely to impart information. Diarvet had a plan.
“Seibring leaves in an hour, but I have a ship ready and waiting. If you leave now, you can beat him to the space station and get the human to safety. I’d go myself, but for a queen’s guard to abandon his post means death.”
He was right. Going against the queen’s wishes was considered treason—a death sentence on Zarpazia. Rescuing the human female would enrage her. She’d absolutely have me returned in chains, beaten and imprisoned, but I might survive. As the heir apparent, whether she liked it or not, my death by her hand would cost her the throne under Zarpazian law. She wouldnot risk that. Even if she did, I no longer cared. I would not stand by and let another innocent die because of her whims.
I pushed to my feet with such force that the table gave an angry scraping sound.
“I have the ship stocked enough for a moon cycle,” Diarvet murmured. “You will need to get a message to the Alliance of the queen’s treachery as well as take the human female somewhere safe.”
I nodded, running my hands over my body as my mind raced. I’d donned my training leathers today, a simple britches and vest instead of the aggravating regal robes my mother preferred I wear in the castle. Robes that hid the shame of my purple and teal scales.
“Good luck, my brother.” Diarvet held out his arm, and I reciprocated, clasping his elbow in the way of warriors.
I allowed Diarvet to depart ahead of me, listening until his footsteps gradually faded before venturing out of the library. The corridor stretched ahead, leading to the eastern exit, the one that led to the gardens and, beyond that, the spaceport. Shadows danced along the walls, and the faint scent of old books lingered in the air as I moved stealthily, conscious of every sound. I needed to remain concealed. If my mother discovered my intentions, she would undoubtedly dispatch guards to intercept me, and her retribution would be harsh. Thankfully, the shame she felt at my very existence kept me from her attention turned from me most of the time.
Ever since my father’s banishment, a palpable fear of my mother’s wrath had silenced any voice of dissent. A hateful iron grip marked her reign, and she elevated those who could shift their scales to positions of influence and affluence, regardless of worth. Beings like me, who bore remnants of the vibrant, unchanged colors of our birth, were considered lower-class citizens, vulnerable to the whims and cruelty of those she deemed superior.
No one opposed her. I did not oppose her. That ended today.
I slipped from the castle into the cool embrace of the harbaat trees, their low-hanging branches laden with deep blue leaves offering a perfect camouflage for my escape. Training would preoccupy most of the queen’s guard at this time of day, leaving my path thankfully clear.
Still, I kept to the shadows, taking the streets that wound around the merchant sector and through the abodes of the disenfranchised. Only a few Zarpazians crossed my path, their eyes meeting mine with friendly acknowledgment, offering a wave and a warm smile. Unlike Vreses, Seibring, my mother, and her cronies, most Zarpazians were noble souls, good and honorable, yearning for nothing more than living in harmony and peace.
Something happened when Zarpazians shifted their scales, something intrinsic that birthed cruelty and chaos deep within their souls. Despite not being the most numerous, they held dominion over others, mostly due to their unmatched ruthlessness.
I would abide it no longer.
I did not know the human female I set out to rescue. I might never know her more than the few moments it took to get her to safety, yet I would owe her the greatest debt.
Her peril was the catalyst that set me on this journey. A journey that was no longer merely a quest for her safety, but an impetus to end my mother’s cruel reign. Rescuing the human female would be seen as an act of treason. My life as I knew it was over. The idea was freeing, like the weight of a thousand shackles being lifted from my soul. Rescuing the human femalewas only the first step—a reason to stand against my mother and free my people from her tyrannical chains.
