Annihilation: The Power of a Queen (18 page)

“Enough,” she yelled. She turned from the huge Glod warrior in front of her and walked over to the wounded Glod struggling with his severed leg. She looked into the crowd and said in a loud voice, “Someone come and tend to this wounded warrior.” No one moved and she yelled, “Do it now!”

Immediately several doctors in the crowd rushed out and started working on the two downed warriors. One doctor took a leather strap from the warriors harness and made a make shift tourniquet to stop the bleeding. “Is he going to live,” Danielle asked?

The doctor looked up and said, “I think so. We can give him a transfusion and he stands a good chance.” She walked over to the prone Glod that had hit his head on the path and asked, “Is he alright?”

The doctor looked up and frowned, “He has a concussion but he should recover.”

Danielle placed a hand on the warriors shoulder and said, “You fought well; live and fight another day, your people need you.” The huge Glod looked up at her and then nodded slowly. She stood and looked out at the crowd and every one could see her anger.

She looked at Hakn-Yee and said, “You stand there and caused two of my finest, bravest warriors to lose their lives to a friend of your people. You waste the vibrancy of their lives because you don’t agree with my selection. How dare you waste the lives of your people when you will need everyone in the upcoming confrontation with the Alliance? My fellow Humans and Cainth are willing to die to protect you against your enemies. Is it too much to expect you to do the same for each other? I didn’t ask to be your queen; I was selected. I will not rule a people who value the lives of their defenders so little. All of your warriors are needed in the coming conflict and you waste them. Every one of you is precious to this universe and every one of you has the capability to make it a better place to raise your families.” She then walked over in front of Tag and said loudly, “There will be no more killing today.”

Tag felt his rage drain away. He took the two Glod long swords and threw them both at the two wooden posts that were on each side of the entrance at the Solar Arch that led into the Quilleron Temple fifty yards away. They flew past the fifth Glod’s head faster than the eye could follow and struck the two posts embedding themselves halfway to the hilt. The crowd was stunned. Those two posts were made from wood that was harder than steel.

Danielle turned and again faced the fifth warrior selected as Tag stood five feet away and said, “I will not stand here and see you die. You will not defeat my husband; he cannot be defeated. Your rite is not given a fair chance when you have to face death face to face with no chance of winning. You will make the decision. You will decide for your race here and now if I am to be your Queen. If you say you don’t want me as your ruler, I will leave and your people will have to find another. You will decide for your people.”

The huge Glod warrior looked down on the small human female and saw she meant what she said. He saw determination and real anger in her eyes coupled with strength of spirit and a softness of real concern for his safety. She moved him deeply. The Glod Warrior had just seen the Human male totally defeat four of his fellow champions faster than his eye could follow. He was not afraid to face the Human; death didn’t frighten him but he knew what decision must be made. The Warrior looked at Hakn for a long moment and then he bowed to Danielle and offered his sword to her. In the silence of the square his voice could be heard by everyone, “My Queen, I will defend you with my life and all my possessions. Forgive me for my blindness at not seeing how right you are at this moment in time.” The entire multitude bowed and lowered their head to this small Human Female. The silence was deafening.

Tgon-Gee said, “Guards, take Hakn into custody.”

Danielle turned and shouted, “Guards, you will leave him alone. He did what he thought was right for his people. Did you not hear me say we need every one of you? Am I supposed to remove one of our nation’s leaders because he did what he felt was right. One thing is going to become clear to all of you if I am to become your Queen. We will do what is right in all our dealings with each other. We will be each other’s best friend and we will be able to count on every one of us to protect each other. You will not have to guess from today on. Our three races will die to preserve each of our three races. I demand that you do the same with each other?”

Hakn-Yee knelt and said, “My Queen. Please forgive me. I couldn’t have been more wrong.” Hakn meant it. He could feel the intensity of this Human Female. She was as angry as a mother would be if one of her off spring had been attacked. This kind of spirit was inspiring and he could sense her inner power. He also now knew the Human male was a supreme warrior.

Two of the Glod warriors that had been part of the group that issued the challenge moved forward and lifted Danielle onto their shoulders and then yelled out to the crowd, “Oya-Luah.”

The multitude went crazy; they responded with “Oya-Luah.” The huge multitude began chanting Oya-Luah together over and over as the big Glod drums began beating the cadence. The chant could be heard from miles away. The two huge warriors carried her out into the mass of Glod that had begun swaying to the rhythm of the drums.

Tag sat down on the concrete and Tgon-Gee walked up looked down at him. Tgon-Gee smiled and said, “Oya-Luah means True Royalty and is only used to describe our supreme leaders that have earned the respect of our warriors.”

Tag felt weary as he looked up at Tgon-Gee and said, “When do you think I might get my wife back?”

Tgon-Gee smiled, “As soon as she tells them to bring her back; they love her now. I guess that since she has already addressed the crowd, we can take that off the list.”

“I hate I had to fight those warriors. They were pretty good.”

“The five of them are planetary champions in martial combat. You defeated our best. The crowd also noticed that you didn’t kill the warriors that couldn’t defend themselves. You treated them with kindness even though they attacked you. That’s a lesson my people had to see in order to understand. Those warriors that were injured or died here today will someday be national heroes of my people because they proved the validity of our new Queen. To a Glod Warrior, nothing is more important than being immortalized for your actions.” Tgon-Gee looked out at the celebrating multitude and said, “Mr. Gardner, my race has never had a leader of a different race, this is a first for us. We know the importance of psychic ability but there are a huge number of my people that questioned our decision of choosing a Human to lead us. We believe in strength in our leaders and what happened today proves that we have chosen well. Your defeat of our champions as you did demonstrated that our warriors need a different role model to follow and please notice that the ones cheering the loudest are the warriors. The sincere concern of Queen Danielle for her subjects in the fight has won their hearts; they know she will protect our race in her decisions.” Tgon-Gee looked back at Tag sitting on the ground and sat down beside him. There was silence for a moment while they watched the celebration that was getting louder by the moment then Tgon-Gee sighed, “Mr. Gardner, I envy your abilities and wish my race had produced someone like you and your wife but if we did then we would have probably continued our aggressive behaviors and ultimately turned on each other. You have allowed us to see a better path and my people will be better for it.” With that he stood up and shook Tag’s hand Human fashion and went to join the celebration.

As Tgon-Gee walked away Tag sat there looking up at a flock of giant carnivorous birds flying overhead and could understand the Glod’s warrior traditions; they were necessary for survival on this violent planet. He thought about the fight and had a sudden thought, “Atlas, why didn’t my screen come on during the fight?”

“It only comes on when you are going to be hit by an object. None of their weapons came close enough to activate it.”

Tag looked at the two dead warriors and said, “I’m sitting here sick to my soul thinking that I murdered these Glod. Atlas, I wanted to hurt them. I felt rage almost take me. I’m glad the shield didn’t come into play.” Tag paused and thought, “Atlas, did I do the right thing today?”

“Tag, the Glod are a warrior race. Tgon-Gee was right, these five warriors and Hakn will have this deed sung around their ceremonial fires for centuries to come. The more these people come to love their queen, then the more importance these warriors will attain. Their families have already been elevated in stature among their cities. They will be revered and cared for by all the members of their nation. Already, every Glod warrior on the planet wishes that they had been selected for this rite so they could gain immortality. The fifth warrior that chose Danielle will be elevated in their race. You chose well to pick him; he will become one of their highest leaders.”

“I sensed that he really wasn’t sure that he was doing the right thing. I wanted to make sure he would have the opportunity to possibly survive. I sensed at the end that Danielle would not allow an uneven fight. Atlas, what do they think of me?”

Atlas did not respond for a long moment and then said, “Tag, you are their warrior spirit in living flesh. They will do their best to copy your actions. You are the ultimate level they all aspire to attain. They respect you and they rightfully fear you.”

Tag looked down and said, “What did Tgon-Gee mean by my aura?”

Atlas said, “They believe you are death incarnate. Did you notice that your shield wasn’t needed because these four champions couldn’t touch you? You don’t have to even think about it, your psychic gift will protect you. Just relax and watch it happen. The thing you should remember is that you don’t go around looking to use your talent. If someone chooses to stick their head into a reactor, then that’s their fault. Your talent could not have been given to a better keeper of it. You race needs that talent in the coming conflict.”

“Atlas, I’ve wondered why the first time I was attacked by five criminals that the knives I used did not have my finger prints on them. Danielle has asked me how they were not on the knives when I didn’t wear gloves. I didn’t have an answer for her.”

“Part of your talent is to protect you from discovery. I’m certain that during those moments of stress your body does not secrete the oil that would leave finger prints.”

“Thanks, Atlas. I think I’m going to have my wife order a state funeral for these two warriors.

“She’s already done it by using her com to contact Tgon-Gee,” Atlas said. “They’ve scheduled it for tomorrow midnight.”

Tag looked at the crowd yelling Oya-Luah even louder and said, “Atlas, she will make a marvelous Queen, won’t she?”

“Did you ever have any doubt? She is also the best keeper of her talent, too. You are war, she is peace. How you two stumbled together is a vast joke on this universe. It almost makes me believe in fate.” Tag sensed that both of them were smiling at the thought.

A
dmiral Dorg and Head Clan Leader Terl had watched Danielle and Tag’s arrival on the Glod home world. They saw the events that took place on the way to the arch and they had the news reporter on the feed explain the rite that was used to challenge her selection. Everyone on Cainth and Earth were watching the feed fearing for their chosen leaders.

Dorg and Terl both jumped up when Danielle and Tag were surrounded by the warriors and challenged. They like everyone else on the two planets held their breath when the warriors attacked Tag. The ease with which the smaller Human defeated those warriors was stunning. The news announcer reported that those five warriors were all planetary martial weapon champions and the Human defeated them without weapons and all at one time. Everyone watched as Danielle asked the fifth warrior to decide. After he bowed, there were celebrations on all three planets. They were all in love with their new Queen but this took her to an entirely new level. Even the Humans who had not had a Royal Family in more than a millennium were caught up in the moment. They had already accepted her as one of the Earth’s leaders anyway, so making her a queen only made them even more proud of her. The victory of her husband over the warriors gave Earth a sense that they could overcome any trial. The celebrations on all three planets grew until billions were celebrating their new chosen leaders. It brought all three races that were so different physically to look at each other as equals and friends.

Terl turned off the feed and said, “I thought Tgon-Gee was somewhat crazy about this aura business but now I’m inclined to believe him. There isn’t a warrior in our armed forces that could defeat a Glod warrior in hand to hand combat. He defeated four armed champions starting with no weapons but his hands.”

“And they were all great champions, too,” Dorg added.

Terl sat down and gazed out the window and thought for a few moments then he turned in his chair and said, “Our race has never put much stock in this so called psychic ability. We tend to lean toward more worldly and practical matters. But this is eye opening. Let’s just say for the moment that we accept what Tgon-Gee says is true; what kind of implications does that have on us?”

“I can think of two right off the top of my head, as the humans would say,” Dorg replied. “The first is simple; you make sure whatever side that husband of hers is on, you make sure that’s the one you’re on too.”