Page 55 of Heir of Draga

Chapter Fifteen

Veri

Scyrian Family Seat

Planet Scyria

She glanced over her shoulder at the two hundred males and females following close behind. Veri had made an emergency landing when Sirus first called for aid. Asher wouldn’t be far behind, but she couldn’t wait for him.

“Let’s move out. Scans show there are thousands of them in the seat. Eradicate what you can, but priority is the Lady Elena. Let’s go!”

They ran by her as she made sure the warriors were properly positioned and the mechas flanked them all. They weren’t fast, but she’d made the hard call and landed on top of a building near the seat, crushing it underneath them. Thank the goddess no one had been inside.

They were still two streets from the seat and she could hear the hair-raising howls.

The reports from the fleet were frightening. Ships of glittering black were appearing out of nowhere, firing and then vanishing. The forces on the border couldn’t afford to retreat and so the Royal fleet had been forced to split up; evacuating Scyria while trying to defend the civilian starships.

It had been an utter nightmare making it to Scyria through the Neprijat ships and ensuing battles. Veri had done it despite her lack of experience in a space battle. But that had been nothing compared to this.

The creatures were a thousand times worse in the flesh than they were on the livestream – a thousand times worse even than the creatures that hid in the waters of Priea. But the people of Scyria were fighters like her own. Every time they found a pocket of survivors they sent them to the fleet ship coordinates.

Slaughtering the monsters was easy enough, but Veri worried about running into an actual Neprijat warrior. These were just foot soldiers, mindless drones to take out the majority of the opposition.

What had happened on Treon and Seprilles had been like this, and she suppressed her shudder as she activated the plasma on her double-sided war staff. The blades on either end were razor sharp and would slice through everything from rock to metal to bone.

Veri flipped it around and took out four creatures at once, dipping down low and then coming up high, whirling it around her body as she twisted and turned. She danced through the horror, black festering blood coating everything as she cut her way to the seat with her warriors.

The legion spread out wider and wider as they took down more.

Veri kept her eye out for the Neprijat ships Sirus had warned them of after his return to the border. The actual Neprijat would look nothing like the creatures – and she had to be prepared, her helmet already up and blocking any persuasive brain waves.

The gate to the seat was already open and she could hear the sounds of battle ahead of them.

Something slammed into the ground in front of her and Veri took a step back, staff across her body as she waited for the smoke to clear.

Veri couldn’t see anything as she tried to peer through the dust. Then there was a disturbance and someone burst through the smoke and she was barely able to register his presence before cycles of training kicked in and she parried, after slipping under his blade with her weapon, she lunged.

He roared at her when her staff pierced his belly without hesitation. She bared her teeth and snarled at the ugliest male she’d ever set eyes on. He fell to his knees and looked up at her with a wide grin when she slid her blade free. Veri didn’t like the look of his black eyes, no iris or pupil – just endless black.

“A warrioress – more cunning and bloodthirsty than the males,” he murmured as black blood filled his mouth and ran down his chin. “We’d hoped the rumors were true.” The sound of his voice rattled her to her core. It was death and decay – ash from a pyre of millions on the burning cold breeze.

He slumped over as life left his body. She was only allowed a split second of horror as she stared down at the thing that still looked too much like her own people. Before she could think too much on it another nearly took off her head.

The squad of Neprijat warriors were much smaller than the creatures they let loose to destroy, but still much larger than her.

“Stop fighting,” the next ordered. His knowing smile turned to shock when she sliced through his neck and twisted.

Thank the goddess Adelina had been right about the helmets. If the Neprijat warrior had been so sure he hadn’t even defended himself, Veri was frightened to think what they could make her do without the wavelength blocking tech.

Five Neprijat were left and they were all male. Their long white hair and grey-white skin disturbed her when paired with their black, soulless eyes and sharp teeth. They were some strange hybrid human and for a split second she wondered what they’d been genetically altered with.

Her double-bladed staff crackled through the air and the plasma sliced through flesh like butter. By the second warrior they realized she was immune to their suggestion. Her legion kept the skittering creatures back, protecting her from being disemboweled. But they pushed forward toward the Scyrian heir as she’d instructed, leaving her to deal with the Neprijat.

Three warriors left. Veri had much worse odds before. She smiled and twirled the staff, adjusting her grip.

“Warrioress – you think you can win this war because you’ll win this battle? We knew we would not leave this planet alive. We were willing to sacrifice everything to leave this planet without a ruler, without a future.” The feral grin showed so many sharp teeth. “And I know we’ve succeeded. So whatever you do to us does not matter. We’ve already won.”

Horror and bile surged up her throat. Rage unlike anything she’d ever felt before burned inside her veins and she attacked, whirling in a graceful, brutal dance of death. When all three heads thudded to the ground she paused, breathing heavy.

---