The room reminded me of some kind of a public market. I didn’t understand what all the things piled up on the floor or on the occasional tables were. The Kryptids looking after them didn’t appear to be selling or trading. Kryptor didn’t have currencies. If you needed something you simply went to whoever produced it and took the amount you needed, since whatever you would use it for would serve the advancement of the colony in one form or another. I didn’t waste time asking questions, as we weren’t here to play tourists.
The large number of Kryptids surrounding us had my heart pounding again. If any of them brushed against us, it would likely make our holographic disguises glitch. For this reason, Shuria was slightly ahead of us so that any who would bump into us would do so with her as she was not wearing a disguise but had shapeshifted into a Soldier.
Multiple archways led into different sections of the Palace. We entered into one of them, and the reason Wrath couldn’t have followed us became immediately obvious. The narrow corridors were split in two lanes, each one reserved for people moving in a specific direction. Everyone moved in pairs side by side in order to limit traffic jams. There was just enough space for Shuria and I to be next to each other without actually touching, but barely a couple of centimeters separated us. By himself, Wrath would have taken two-thirds of the space in our lane. Had Varnog’s presence not been necessary, Wrath could have gotten away with walking by himself behind us, but the Scelk’s talents were much too necessary for this mission.
The tingle of my man’s psychic touch warned me of his imminent communication. While we normally directly spoke telepathically, he wanted to avoid startling me in a way that might give us away.
“Lengthen your steps, my love,” Varnog warned. “You are drawing attention. Left Soldier, nine o’clock.
I didn’t turn my head but flicked my eyes in the direction he had indicated. Sure enough, a pair of Soldiers armed to the teeth, clearly members of the Queen’s Guard, were coming in the opposite direction from us. The one closest to the wall was staring at my legs. Feeling faint, I forced myself to fall back into the pattern I had rehearsed over and over at the base.
“Good job,” Varnog said after a few seconds, giving me an affectionate psychic nudge.
“Thank you,” I said, berating myself for having let my guard down.
“Always,” he said.
My heart wanted to melt again for my man, but I forced myself to remain focused.
For what felt like forever, we traveled through a series of tunnels and lifts. We sank lower and lower into the bowels of the Palace, only to climb back up in what would have been the most insane of mazes without Shuria to guide us. We finally began approaching the Queen’s Quarters. They included the Nursery, the Birthing Chamber, the Queen’s Guard’s barracks, and what had once served as the Audience Room. A large armory was located a short distance from the bridge. The entire Queen’s Quarters were the liveship I was about to steal.
Six of the most impressive Soldiers I had seen in a long time stood before the large, reinforced doors that blocked the entrance to our destination. Most of the traffic had reduced to a trickle right now. However, while a majority of the people ahead of us turned into connecting passages on each side of the large doors, a couple had actually requested access into the Queen’s Quarters. Each one had been stopped by the guards to justify their need to enter.
“Your turn to shine, Varnog,” Shuria said in our group psychic chat.
“You got it,” Varnog said with a confidence that went a long way in appeasing some of my fears.
We walked up to the guards with the same nonchalant pace before stopping in front of them.
“What is your business in the Queen’s Quarters?” asked one of the Soldiers to Shuria.
Judging by their thick scales, broad shoulders, and sturdy frames, these Soldiers were much older, likely born from one of the earlier, healthy batches of eggs from before General Khutu became an abomination.
“Reporting for assignment in the Queen’s Guard Reserve,” Shuria said in perfect Kryptid, a feat neither Varnog nor I could have achieved.
She presented the bracer on her forearm and tapped a couple of instructions to display our transfer orders. The back of my head tingled from psychic energy emanating from my man. As a rank four psychic, I could perceive such energy. Thankfully, most Soldiers and Workers rarely exceeded rank three, most of them remaining at rank one or two. That made it nearly impossible for them to sense it. The Soldiers’ expressions went slack while Varnog made them see what he wanted. Seconds later, the Kryptid who had addressed us nodded then stepped aside, allowing us through.
Despite the fear knotting my innards, excitement and something akin to exhilaration grew within me. There was something beyond thrilling about hiding in plain sight and deceiving our enemies.
No one paid us any mind as we traipsed along the circular corridor surrounding the large central area divided in the Birthing Chamber and the Nursery. To my great horror, a group of Soldiers came out of the Nursery with a large hovering platform loaded with dead or dying larvae and deformed young Kryptid nymphs. They would likely be fed to the organic membranes that covered the floors of the entire Palace or to some of the defense creatures that Varnog had located on our way here.
“Good God,” I mind-spoke to my companions, trying to hide the shock from my face. “That strikes me like an insanely high percentage of defective offspring being eliminated.”
“More than you know,” Shuria said in a somber tone. “Which is why we have a chance of swaying these Soldiers to side with us and continue their duty in protecting the proper Queen. Look at their faces. Those males are beyond disgusted and sickened by what they are seeing and having to do.”
It would certainly help our cause into rallying more of the population to the rebellion if the highly respected Queen’s Guard stood with us.
“Do you know where Queen Xerath currently is?” I asked as we hurried towards the left side of the circular corridor.
“Yes,” Shuria said. “I have touched minds with her the minute we entered the Queen’s Quarters. She is in good spirits and relieved that we’re here at last. But we cannot risk going to her. The chances of getting caught are too high. I have no doubt Khutu is keeping strict tabs on who goes in and out of her confinement area.”
Making sure that no one was paying attention to us, Shuria led us towards the maintenance shafts. We snuck in and immediately came face to face with two maintenance Workers. Before they could react, Varnog stepped forward and the females went still, their faces devoid of any emotion. They slowly walked to the side of the passage, and sliding down the wall, they sat on the floor and remained motionless, lost in whatever Dream Walk Varnog had trapped them in.
Not wasting anytime, I swallowed the antidote the rebels had provided us, immediately imitated by my companions. I then handed them the gas injectors that had been strapped around my waist. With me being smaller, they fit snugly within the radius of my holographic disguise. We spread out and stuck them in the air regulators that allowed them to adjust the ventilation levels of the organic membranes covering the ceilings of the Queen’s Quarters from a central location.
As soon as we were done, Shuria injected the Workers with some kind of soporific. Since the one we had just released in the ventilation system would take a few minutes to act, we didn’t want Varnog to be stuck having to mind control the females until it kicked in. We ran through the maintenance shaft, using it as a shortcut to the engine room located right below the bridge.