“There can be no mistaking our Queen,” the blue warrior said softly. “I have been tending this arch of Mating Blooms and Queen Callers for so long I have forgotten when I first planted them. And not once have the blooms blazed or the callers rung for another female. You are the one, my Lady.”
“The one what?” Terra asked, completely confused by now.
“The one to be our Queen, obviously,” the green warrior replied loftily. “At least, all the evidence supports such a conclusion so far.”
“Which means you’re comin’ with us,” the red warrior growled. He reached for her again but Terra stepped back and reached for Iyanna, who grasped her hand.
“I don’t think so,” she said evenly. “I don’t even know the three of you!”
“We can make introductions later. For now, just come with us,” the red warrior said, frowning. “Can’t have our Queen runnin’ around with no protection! You’re fuckin’ valuable and rare—we need to guard you.”
“Right now it looks to me like what Terra needs protection from is the three of you,” Iyanna said, frowning. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on her!”
“But—” all three of them began at once, but just then a new voice came rumbling out of the darkness behind them.
“All right, what in the Seven Frozen Hells is going on here?” it said.
A huge figure stepped out of the forest and came to stand near Iyanna. He had curving horns and his eyes glowed yellow in the darkness—also he had to be at least nine feet tall. But Iyanna didn’t show any fear at all.
“Oh, Dra’vik! Thank the sweet baby Jesus you’re here!” she exclaimed. “We have a big problem!”
“What’s wrong, little girl?” the enormous Monstrum rumbled. He glared at the three warriors who were still facing off against Terra and Iyanna. “Did any of you bastards lay a hand on my mate?”
“Give us some fucking credit, Dra’vik—you know we wouldn’t touch another male’s mate,” the red warrior protested, holding up his hands.
“We are simply trying to claim our own mate—our Queen,” the green one said.
“She set off my arch.” The blue one gestured to the arch of flowers. Terra had stepped outside it by now but the Mate Finder blossoms were still glowing and the Queen Callers, as the blue warrior had called them, were still tinkling faintly, as though in response to her close proximity.
“Okay, all right…” The enormous Monstrum nodded. “I think I see what’s going on.”
“Well then would you please let us in on the secret?” Iyanna demanded, putting a hand on her hip. “Poor Terra is scared to death here! I promised her a nice, quiet tour of the ship and what do I get? These three fools popping out of the trees, trying to grab her!” She nodded at the three warriors who were still staring at Terra.
“We weren’t trying to grab her—we need to protect her!” the red warrior protested.
“And to serve her,” the blue warrior added.
The green warrior said nothing but he was staring at Terra as steadily and intensely as the others were, making her feel distinctly uncomfortable.
“I think they must have mistaken me for someone else,” she said, her voice coming out shaky even in her own ears. “I’ve never even seen any of them before—not that I can see them very well now,” she added.
Though the warriors glowed in the dark, there were details she couldn’t make out in the dim forest. For instance, their eyes looked so strange—like the compound eyes of an insect, she thought with a shiver. And the red one seemed to have horns while the blue one had some kind of antennae. The green one seemed to be wearing glasses of some kind but they appeared to be growing out of the sides of his face which was really strange.
“Tell you what,” Dra’vik said to Iyanna. “This is a bad place to have this conversation because you humans have such weak eyesight—you and your friend really can’t see V’rone and Rive and Tem’blx here.”
Are those their names? Terra wondered faintly. It did seem like they could have at least introduced themselves before trying to grab her!
Iyanna frowned and put a hand on her hip again.
“Look, just because our eyes don’t glow in the dark—”
“Can’t we just leave?” Terra interrupted her. “Why do we have to, uh, talk about this at all? Obviously there’s some mistake.”
“There’s no fuckin’ mistake,” growled the red warrior. “And yes, we need to talk about this. A Queen can’t be walking around with no protection!”
“But I’m not a queen!” Terra protested. She wondered if they had her confused with some kind of royal person from back on Earth.
“You will be a Queen once we claim and bond you—our Queen,” the blue warrior said.
“Look—” Terra began but Dra’vik interrupted her.
“Like I said, let’s take this to the Light Side of the ship so the humans can see what in the Seven Frozen hells is going on. Hopefully we can straighten this whole mess out there.”