Chapter 12: Desperate Measures

The night passed off without incident. Varna had insisted they all stay together in the Royal Suite and take turns mounting guard in addition to the palace guards placed outside the suite, none of whom Varna trusted.

The following morning at breakfast a palace official hurried in and walked up to Varna, who was helping herself to some chopped fruit from the buffet laid out at the back of the room.

"My Lady, may I have a word please?"

"Of course." She put down her bowl and turned to face the official. He shifted from foot to foot and wrung his hands. "Well?" She frowned at him and caused his agitation to increase.

"Umm ... Ma'am, I have just been informed that Lady Minara had been taken, and a message left in blood painted on the door of one of her barns."

"What was the message?" Varna swallowed, a knot forming in her stomach; she had not expected Minara to be a victim. The buzz of conversation ceased as the others turned to listen. "It simply said: who's next?"

"When you say taken, was there no body?"

"No ma'am, she did not return home last night and the message was found this morning. She would not leave her son, ma'am, the servants are certain of it."

"All right, thank you for letting me know."

The official bowed and left the room. Varna waved the servants out of the room and started to pace as her three crew watched her. Two of them sat, concern on their faces.

Theasa was visibly shaken, tears welling in her eyes when she spoke. "What are we going to do, Varna?"

Something had niggled at Varna; she had suspected the human would not attack Minara so the news had been a surprise, but the fact there was no earless body lying next to the barn doors to reinforce the bloody message seemed strange.

"Theasa! Pull yourself together..." The doors burst open, interrupting her. Varna spun around, her hand reaching for the pistol on her hip. She relaxed as soon as she saw it was the palace guard commander, a scarred and shifty looking thug who was nothing if not loyal to them.

He bowed. "I'm sorry, m'lady, but I have just heard news that General Arron has appeared in the city and is making for the city guard headquarters."

A knot formed in her gut and she heard Theasa gasp behind her. They had not yet replaced the city guard commander as he had not given them any cause - yet, but Varna knew they could not trust him to be loyal. They had also heard whispers of this General Arron, and that he had been killed rescuing some member of the royal family before Minara had taken over. "How do you know it is this General Arron suddenly come back from the dead?"

Varna noticed the commander knot his fists before answering. "He is unmistakable, m'lady, he had golden hair and blue eyes like you."

Petara voiced what they were all thinking. "Ancestors, a Grojan!"

Varna held up her hand for silence. "Thank you, commander, please secure the palace and double the guard, and don't be concerned, we are more than a match for him."

"Yes, m'lady." He saluted, turned and left the room to do as he was ordered.

She turned back to her crew. Theasa, tears openly tumbling down her face as she sobbed, the other two had fear in their eyes.

Petara shook her head. "Varna, you know we cannot face a Grojan."

Varna continued her pacing. "Be quiet! Something is not right here, something I'm missing..." She started to think out loud. "When we arrived Minara was pregnant, she said the father had died." She turned and paced back across the room. "How many Grojan have we seen or heard of since we have been here?"

"None except for Minara," Petara answered the question.

"Exactly!"

"What are you getting at, Varna?" Petara asked.

"Don't you see? He has to be Minara's mate."

"So? The human has killed her."

"But has he? Think for a moment: the message said he would kill us and chop of our ears. We found Sisanna dead and without her ears, but there is no sign of Minara. Why didn't the human leave her body minus her ears by the message?"

Petara shrugged. "I don't know, Varna."

"Didn't you notice Minara's reaction when she saw the human's message?"

"She was concerned like the rest of us, well, except for that vicious bitch Sisanna of course."

"No Petara, the expression on her face when she first saw the message was shock, but she masked it quickly so I thought she might know the human, especially as Theasa discovered evidence of humans with Grojan DNA." She held up her hand as Petara opened her mouth." She will give you the details later."

"B ... but, Varna, his face was covered." Theasa took a shuddering breath and wiped her tears with her fingers.

"She didn't need to see his face, his voice, she recognized his voice, they are a bonded pair!" Varna snapped.

"A human?" Petara spluttered

"A hybrid!" Varna threw her arms in the air in frustration and glared at her crew. "Don't you see? This General Arron and the human are one and the same."

The three women facing her gasped in unison. "Minara mated with a human, a hybrid?" Petara shuddered. "It's disgusting."

"She didn't know, because as far as she was concerned he was a Grojan, an unmated adult male. What did you expect her to do? We cannot escape our primitive instincts."

Petara shook her head. "I know, but it is still disgusting, and she had a child by it, Ancestors! Do you think she knows?"

Varna shrugged. "I don't give a fuck, but think for a moment, what can stand up to a battle raged Grojan male?" All three women looked at her blank expressions on their faces. Varna rolled her eyes. "Ancestors, I'm surrounded by idiots - another battle raged Grojan male, and if he were in a mating rage there would be no contest!"

"Oh yes, we have adult Grojan's hanging from trees I suppose!" Petara retorted, a sarcastic edge to her voice.

"No, but we might have another hybrid."

All three of her crew looked at her stunned. "You mean in your fucking artifact?"

Varna sighed. "The penny drops! Yes of course."

"It's a cryochamber actually," Theasa added as her sobs subsided.

Catana, who had sat silently through the conversation so far, frowned. "Varna, we are not certain that is what it is."

"I know that, but what if it is? We could revive it, then I let it see me just at the right moment and tell it I'm in danger and need protecting, and you know what will happen."

Catana shook her head. "Varna, it will go berserk, and that is extremely dangerous. What happens when it has you alone after it has killed everyone else, you know what it will do to you, and you won't be able to stop it, in fact if you bonded with it you would welcome it. You will end up like Minara."

"Ah, but I know it's human, I will resist it, then once their General Arron is dead I will shoot it." And you don't know I have already passed the initial bonding stage with a fucking human so I should be able to resist it, Varna thought to herself.

"After all this time and effort protecting the bloody thing? What if you can't? Varna, we don't understand on what level these changes have been made, we cannot fight what we are. Even you, Varna, cannot deny your Grojan heritage."

"Don't be ridiculous, I know it's human, to mate with it would be nothing short of bestiality, disgusting!" Varna shuddered. "Anyway, until we revive it we can't be sure that is what it is."

Petara shook her head "It's too risky, Varna and you have had this 'thing' about it for years, you won't be able to resist it."

"What alternative do we have? It's that, prison, exile or death!" Varna snapped. "Besides, now Sisanna is gone and the core is destroyed I can open it without setting off Sisanna's explosive device.

"On your head be it, Varna, we will hide in one of the bedroom closets, then we can surrender if it goes wrong and there is no chance of it turning on us before it has taken you."

"Well I'm willing to give it a go if you don't want to."

"Theasa! How can you say such a thing?" Petara raised her eyebrows at the teenager.

"Well I've never fought humans because I was too young for the war, and if it looks like a Grojan and feels like a Grojan what's the difference?"

"Ancestors! The younger generation!" Petara shook he head.

"Huh! You're only seven years older than me," Theasa retorted.

"Enough! I'm going to revive this thing and set it on General Arron, who I believe is also our synthetic human, Grojan hybrid who has been threatening us. I can't see any other way out of this mess and at least I'm reviving it for something useful."

Catana shrugged "Well on your head be it, Varna."

"I can do this!" Varna took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes tight shut for a moment, then fisted her hands to prevent them trembling. Her pulse raced as she summoned the palace servants and ordered them to help carry the large white casket from their ship's hold to the royal suite.

With the cryochamber standing in the main bedroom, Varna knelt by the control panel. Theasa had told her which control started the revival sequence. With a knot tightening in her stomach she pushed the button. The panel turned red and a countdown sequence started. She instructed the servants in what needed to be done after the human was revived. The full revival sequence had been in the material Theasa had translated. It had to be fed and rested so it would be ready when she needed it. According to the information Theasa had found, the full revival could not be rushed and would normally take several days, but Varna didn't have the time. The others were to hide, and when the time came the servants were to lead it through to the main reception room where she would be waiting.

She planned to then act out the charade and launch it at their enemies. What could go wrong? Varna caught herself trembling. Everything could go wrong. It might not be a hybrid, it might not bond with her, especially as she had started to bond with another human so long ago. Did interrupting the bonding process cancel it? She had no idea and she had never heard of it happening before. And the part that worried her the most; what if it were close to the real thing and she could not control her primeval instincts. Her trembling increased. "Ancestors help me." She ran her hands through her hair and sat down.

Everything seemed hazy and indistinct. He could make out vague shapes, light and movement, but he could not focus. He was ravenously hungry and thirsty and tried to swallow, but his mouth seemed dry, his tongue like old leather.

His head was lifted by gentle hands and cool fresh water touched his lips. He gulped it down greedily, reaching for more when the container was empty, a few moments later another container was pressed against his mouth and he emptied it as well, coughing when it caught his breath.

The figures were becoming clearer as his eyes started to focus, the light and dark resolving itself into faces looking down at him. "Where am I, who am I?" His voice came out as a croak as if it had not been used for years.

They said something back to him and appeared to talk amongst themselves. He understood them, but they weren't speaking in the same language he was thinking in. How did he understand what they said? He switched his thoughts and asked the same question in their language.

"You are in the Royal Palace of Halcyon, sir."