Hotbloods 6: Allies

“The battle is not won, however,” the newscaster said, distracting us from the shock of Brisha’s assassination. “The usurper’s forces are still at large, battling to retain control of the North. They do not see the one true queen as their queen and would seek to defy our armies. We shall not allow them to disobey the might of Queen Gianne. We will continue to fight until not a single one is left standing, if that is what it takes—these are the words of our fearless leader.”

It appeared that Queen Brisha’s military was still fighting back against Gianne’s army, despite their leader being dead. I couldn’t blame them. If I had a choice between battling for my independence or bowing down to the whims and wishes of a madwoman, I knew where my loyalty would lead.

“They will not triumph,” the newscaster continued. “Our queen shall be queen of all Vysanthe soon enough. We must remain strong and defeat these usurping hordes who would refuse Queen Gianne her right to their throne.”

I wasn’t sure what state Gianne’s armies were in, but that didn’t change the fact that there was only so much the North could do to retaliate and keep hold of their lands. We had seen them depleted with our own eyes, thanks to the Titans, and I knew things could only have gotten worse from there. They were likely dangling by a thread, clawing at any hope they could muster, but it would only be a matter of time before Gianne got what she wanted and took control over everything. They couldn’t fight forever.

Unfortunately for us, that meant Gianne’s distractions would soon be over, too. As soon as the war was officially won, and the Northern forces had been vanquished by the remainder of her army, she would undoubtedly resume all the projects she had been developing prior to the war. I sensed, deep down in my heart, that she would jump straight back into it the moment she took both thrones. She would go back to building the deep-space technology that had so nearly been thwarted and would set her sights on completing the immortality elixir. Once that was done, there would be nothing we could do to stop her from doing whatever she wanted, wherever she wanted, in all the universe.

“What do we do?” Angie asked, lifting her head.

“What can we do?” Ronad replied. “It’s not like we can swoop down there and save the day. They’ve already lost.”

Navan grimaced. “And we’ll lose, too, if we don’t get a move on.”

“Navan?” Bashrik said, concerned.

“We have to get out of here. There’s nothing we can do about Vysanthe now, but we can do something about the rebels,” he urged. “As soon as they find out what’s happened here, they’ll be slaughtering humans for blood and pushing harder for the elixir, especially now that they have the notebook. Then they’ll be pouring that elixir down the throat of every rebel soldier and making their plans to return. This won’t be the last conflict Vysanthe sees.”

I nodded. “We need to press on to Glossa.”

“What about everyone down there?” Xiphio protested. “I have no love for the coldbloods, but there must be countless innocents in need of some reassurance. Perhaps we can pause a moment, to see if we can arrest Gianne?”

“And do what with her?” Navan shot back. “The Fed won’t come near this place—you know that as well as I do. I hate to say it, but the Vysantheans are on their own.”

“For now,” I added, feeling a twist of guilt.

Lauren nodded. “We have to deal with one thing at a time, and Vysanthe will have to wait its turn. The rebels have to be stopped first. We can’t let them make that elixir. If they manage it, it’s game over for everyone.”

“I’ll see that don’t happen, but I need me crew first,” Stone reassured us, his arm still around Lauren.

“If anyone can help stop them, it’s Stone,” Lauren agreed.

“I suppose you have to think like a criminal to be able to vanquish a criminal,” Xiphio mumbled, clearly feeling put out by the bond between Lauren and Stone. Regardless, I hoped Lauren was right. We were wasting valuable time going to pick them up from Glossa, but if that’s what it took to gain Stone’s cooperation, then so be it.

“Continuing our course to Glossa,” Bashrik said, his hands moving across the control panel.





Three more days passed in the blink of an eye, with us running way behind schedule. It seemed the navigation system had been wrong in predicting it would take us four days to reach Glossa. The system was glitching every couple of hours and pointing us in a different direction. Fortunately, Bashrik had caught the error before it could cause us too much trouble, diving down under the controls and restarting the navigation system manually. Afterward, he’d claimed he couldn’t find any problem with the wiring, which worried me.

First, there’d been an unexplained crash. Now, there were unexplained glitches going on with the ship’s systems. Either someone was trying to sabotage us, or this ship was falling to pieces and we didn’t know it. I wasn’t sure which was worse.

And so, three days off course thanks to the navigation problems and still despondent over the loss of Brisha, we were finally headed back in the right direction. All of us were gathered in the cockpit, with Bashrik and Ronad on the controls, while Angie and I sat together to one side and Navan was in the armchair next to me, drifting in and out of sleep. Lauren was on the opposite side of the room, playing a board game with Xiphio and Stone, who seemed intent on outdoing one another.

“How long until we reach Glossa?” I asked, staring through the windshield at the endless darkness of space. I was starting to get sick of the sight of it, which was something I’d never thought possible. Now, I was starting to understand why Pandora had never bothered to venture onto the observation deck—there just wasn’t anything new to see.

“Four days or so,” Bashrik replied.

I grimaced. “Won’t your crew be worried about you by now, Stone? What if they’ve already left because they think you’re dead?”

Stone smirked. “They won’t.”

“And you’re not going to run off as soon as you have your crew back?”

“We’ve been over this. I ain’t going nowhere,” he insisted. “I made an oath to ye, and I don’t break oaths.”

I frowned at him. “And you’re really going to help us?”

We’d discussed the situation at length, but I couldn’t help asking again and again. As soon as he had his crew back, as promised, he’d agreed to use his powers to help us defeat the rebels, with all of them returning with us to Earth to fulfill that part of the bargain. After that, we’d have to find a more permanent way to protect Earth from the perils of intergalactic beings, but that discussion would have to wait until we’d actually defeated the rebels—I just hoped Xiphio would make good on his promise to ask the Fed for further help. Right now, however, there was no point in running before we could walk.

Stone nodded. “I told ye, I made me promise and I’ll stick to it. Ain’t that right, Ren? I’m a man of me word, right?” he said, looking to Lauren for approval.

She and Xiphio had been spending a lot more time together lately, which had had a peculiar effect on Stone. He’d started acting weird around her, almost trying to imitate Xiphio’s chivalrous mannerisms. It was funny to watch, considering Stone had all the manners of a scavenger, but I felt bad for him. He clearly adored Lauren, not realizing his own feelings until he’d almost lost her to Xiphio. Now, he was trying to make up for lost time, with hilarious consequences.

“You are a man of your word, Stone. I don’t know anyone more honest,” Lauren replied, smiling.

“I been meaning to say, Ren, yer face looks weird today,” he said unexpectedly, his cheeks flushing. “Have ye done somethin’ to it?”

Lauren frowned. “No, I don’t think so. What do you mean, weird?”

“Like, all glowing and stuff,” he muttered. “Yer radiant… or something, like one of them stars out there.”

“Are you feeling okay, Stone?”