It has been a glorious, exciting, bloody past hour. The human girl freed me, as well as every other dangerous animal in the menagerie, for the small price of my allowing her to perch on my shoulders, in relative safety, as I chased them all from the room and out into the halls I had never before seen. Bristaness led us through the ship, wreaking havoc as we went, taking our revenge on the puny humans who had dared to keep me in captivity.

I have hardly felt the weight of the girl on my shoulder these past hours, so submerged have I been in the joys of death and victory. She has clung quietly to my spines, hissing pleasure and vengeance under her breath, and laughing at every life we extinguish. She asks nothing of me but what I would gladly bring her myself, for myself, and so I have no qualms about doing so. I can rid myself of her later, but for now, we are together in the frenzy of killing.

Fighting our way across the ship, or station, or whatever this disgusting place is, I can hear Charliss calling for me, eager to join Bristaness and me in our revenge. What he has done with himself, or been forced to do by the wretched humans who have entrapt us for so long, all this time, I know not. I could not reach him until now, and Bristaness has not been particularly forthcoming, other than to tell me he has been well and just as captive as I. I do know, at least, that he is in peak battle form-- and he is anxious to use it. Perhaps I could reach him faster if I deigned to ask the human girl clinging to my shoulders-- but, of course, I would never lower myself to such a thing. I miss my warrior, but I do not miss him that much!

"Hurry!" the girl hisses against my crest as we pause in a crossroads of corridors. For the first time, she demands something of me, and I merely growl and whip my crest free of her. "Hurry!" she repeats.

::I am not to be controlled, nor ordered!:: My voice is strong, and I can feel her flinch. ::I am a queen! You are a bug beneath my claws!::

"You are a queen without her warrior," the girl croons slyly. "And I am the one who freed you."

::How dare you--::

"You are also a queen who will be brought down by a mage, if she does not find the one I freed you to kill."

That alone stills my furious shriek. A mage? What trickery is this?

"Magic, yes," the girl continues, one hand stroking my armored neck. It is distracting, but through I wish to bite her-- wish to sever that tiny head from those tiny shoulders with one quick snap-- she is hidden behind the bulk of my crest, and I cannot. "You know magic, don't you? It is what captured you, what kept you prisoner... you were created powerful, but not powerful enough to stand against magic."

::One word more and I throw you from me and trample you! Speak not of weakness!::

The girl, I will admit, is strong. The force of a queen's command, even a young queen like myself, is difficult to resist, yet she did so, somehow continuing to speak: "If you do not wish to hear of weakness, then turn right here, away from the mages who are coming to subdue you, even as we stand here, wasting time...."

Pride, at first, holds me still, but Bristaness, weak drone that he is, quickly takes off down the indicated passage. With a scream that is all my frustration, fury, and humiliation, I can do nothing else but bolt after him, before he manages to kill himself on accident. He leads the way at a reckless pace-- but I am feeling reckless, and so do not check him. Either he knows the route the girl intends for us, or she is somehow directing him with a mental prowess that I would not have expected of her, because she never once corrects his turnings. At least there are more humans and their ilk to kill, to keep me occupied in our race through the halls.

"Here, here, turn here!" at last the girl cries, and she adds, as we angle around the corner she flung her arm towards, "Open, code kappa pi delta six!" At the unfathomable words, the pair of thick, metal panels that we were about to slam into inexplicably slid back, revealing a wide, shallow, lobby-like room, full of frightened, surprised humans. Joyously screeching for my revenge, I wade right in, once again forgetting my burden, for her laughter is in harmony with my own. None of the weaklings are any kind of challenge, simply screaming and trying to run, making a press of bodies for me to tear through with claws, teeth, and barbed tail. It is over too soon.

"There is more, much more," I hear then, a purr from my shoulder, reminding me of the girl. Hissing displeasure at the sound of her voice, I swing my head back and forth, seeking out the vibrations of heat, sound, and mind that will show me an opening in the walls that will lead to this "more". "There--" And with a flung armed gesture, I see the door, an uneven place in the uniformity in the wall. That it is shut is of no matter at all: this door is flimsy, and I rip it free easily with a sweep of my tail.

::I go first!:: Bristaness squeals, scampering from behind me and somehow wriggling past, and through the now-jagged hole in the wall. ::To protect the queen!::

::Bristaness!:: I snarl at his disappearing tail and leap after him, incensed at his initiative. No drone should stand between his queen and her kill! Besides, I can take care of myself just fine.

The room spreading out before us is vast, tiered, and largely spherical, but for the flat floor. The ground has good grip, the horizon clear and clean, the air pristine but for the lingering scents of anger, battle, and death. It is, I decide quickly, a good place. And yet, and yet.... Somewhere beyond I sense the buzz of minds-- strangely familiar animal minds, that resonate on a frequency I recognize and am born to command. Bristaness does not seem to care or even notice, already halfway across, to another door, this one open. Two humans are there, just within, and the scent of them is enough to make me forget the strangeness and leap at them.

::My queen, no!::

Bristaness is there, again! Fool, insubordinate, whelp, cull! ::Out of my way!::

::They will kill you!::

::No mere human can kill me! Let me go!::

"Kill her!" the girl is screaming from my back, but she does not mean me. There is a female, one of the two humans is female, and it is she I am here to kill, in the mind of the strong-willed human. At the moment, I am more than happy to oblige, but Bristaness is in my way at every turn. For such a small thing, he is very adept at blocking my path-- and avoiding my claws.

::They are mages!::

That stills my rage-- just barely. Just enough for a moment of thought. Mages are the one thing I cannot stand against, magic the one thing that can defeat me, a queen in her prime.

"What are you doing?!" the girl demands, beating at my crest with an impotent fist. "Don't just stand there, kill her!"

::I am not a creature to be commanded, insect!::

"Ky'ipa!" the female human cries, almost as if she would come closer to me-- or my burden-- but the male holds her back.

"No, Diana--"

"I'll protect you," the girl whispers to me. "I understand magic, and magic cannot hurt me-- or those who I chose to protect."

::I have no reason to do as you say.::

"You hate humans."

::I hate you.::

She leans closer. "I know what they've been doing with you and your warrior all this time... you can sense them, can't you? All those minds-- not quite right, are they? The abominations... made with your genes, to fight you...."

My thoughts, my mind, is suddenly full of deformed, twisted, perverted creatures-- creatures who could have been born of my people: warriors, drones, proud beings turned into something vile, something without pride, without honor, without courage. Living with humans-- serving humans-- loving humans--

A queen: a horrible, disgusting, perversion of a queen. Serving them. 

I lunge. These humans, who would make such things-- and the creatures they made!-- are going to die! And I will be the one to kill them!

Every. Last. One!

Chapter Four

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