Chapter 202: No Medicine For Regrets
"You do realize that if you kill my offspring, you will have declared yourself an enemy of all my people," said the Tribal Chief. I didn’t know what he was trying to get at. Did he really think that I wasn’t prepared for whatever he sent my way? There was no guarantee that even if I did everything he wanted me to do, he wouldn’t turn around and still try to kill me.
At least this way, I could fight him with his own weapons. There was something a bit poetic about it. Besides, I had another theory that I wanted to test out, but I was going to use my males to do it first. If I was right, then I would be the biggest threat to any Saalistaja out there, outside of my men.
But I was going to keep those cards close to my chest.
"Your decision," I said, holding up one hand. I am sure that he would have no idea what I was doing, but maybe it would translate. With my fingers spread out, I said, "Five." I dropped one finger, "Four." Slowly, I counted down from five to one. And when the Tribal Chief didn’t do anything, I shrugged my shoulders.
I did what I could. "You only have your father to blame," I said, turning to the two males.
"Wait!" shouted the Tribal Chief, but it was too late. "Night," I said concisely, and as if one, all fourteen nightmares bit into the Saalistaja they were attached to.
"No!" screamed the man on the other side of the screen as he watched his son’s armor flickering in and out as the nano tried to deal with the venom. "What did you do?!?"
"Exactly what I told you I would do," I answered, coming to my feet. "The technology is mine. Next time, I suggest that you don’t push me. I gave you plenty of outs. You just refused to take them. Are you regretting that decision now?"
"You fucking bastard! If you ever show yourself in Saalistaja space, be prepared; we will hunt you down and kill you. And the traitors behind you!"
That statement made me pause. It was fine to threaten me, even if he didn’t have a leg to stand on; his insults don’t really bother me. But to threaten one of my men....
"Are you threatening my males?" I asked, slowly turning around. I saw from the corner of my eye the son and his friend completely naked except for a loin cloth. Their armor no nowhere to be seen. I let out a piercing whistle, and the nightmares who had abandoned the Saalistaja just now quickly returned.
"They are not your males. They are Saalistaja, and they are traitors; how dare they support a pup like you instead of my son! I will not stand for this. From now on—" His words were cut off with a strangled cry.
"Ah, you noticed. What a shame; I was going to let you dig a deeper grave for yourself. But if there is one thing I am a firm believer in, it is that I will not let anyone live that could pose a threat to me or mine," I said, going to sit back down in my chair. Apparently, the show wasn’t over, and this epilogue was going to prove to be a big one.
My mates were smart enough to not speak right now. Even my dragon was silent, not standing up for the males that came with him.
We watched the visible nightmare climb up the Tribal Chief until it rested on his exposed dreads. Like the other two, he was frozen in place, not wanting to antagonize the adorable creature. Too bad for him, he failed to realize that it wasn’t the nightmare he should be worried about.
"Who knew that there were so many of these cuties living their lives invisible to the rest of us," I mused out loud as I petted Night’s fluffy head. "I really wouldn’t be surprised if there were at least five or six in every household on every planet in the universe. But do you want to know what just occurred to me? And I am so sorry that you are going to be the one to prove my theory, but I don’t think Night is who I first thought he was."
I knew I was doing the villain’s monologue, but I really couldn’t help myself. I was practically giddy, knowing what I knew. "Night, the one that found me on a random jungle planet, is not just any nightmare," I continued, smothering the creature on my shoulder with attention. I was really going to have to make sure that I had all of his favorite snacks on board the next time we went to a space station.
"No, my little Night is the king of his kind. Every last nightmare in the universe is programmed to listen to him as if his words were law. Thus, the one on your shoulder. I mean, I kind of suspected it, with him bringing 19 others on board with him, but I originally thought that they might just be his family. However, they are all male. Every last one. They are his soldiers, his guards."
I looked up at Da’kea, wondering if he should be in the room for what I was going to do next. Maybe I should let all the guys go back to the nest so they don’t need to witness this part of me.
"If they won’t drink with you, I will," said Midnight strolling into view. He had followed me onto the command bridge but stayed out of sight, trusting me to handle things by myself.
"I will stand beside you," said my dragon, and a small worry just disappeared like it never existed. There was no better feeling than being chosen.
"We stand beside you," assured Da’kea. "Besides, the cause of death is going to be a voragyvis bite. Who is to say that we had anything to do with it?"
I nodded my head and turned my attention back to the Tribal Chief. Sitting up straight, I stared at the male. "You should have let me keep the technology. Now you lose both it and your life."
As soon as I said my peace, there were three high-pitched screams and then blessed silence.
