A great cheer goes up as I lift her from the punishment table and hold her close. It is time we went into private. She has given enough of her public self.
“Good girl,” I murmur as I hold her. “Such a good girl.”
Chapter Thirteen
Blackmane
In the aftermath of perhaps the most public sex to ever take place on the Dawnhammer, I feel a weight lifted from my shoulders. The mood has changed ship-wide. Invasion is the order of the day, and we are all absolutely thrilled. War drums beat day and night, penetrating all parts of the hull, our pulses and brains thrumming with the rhythm.
We are en-route to Arthas’ kingdom to carry out the second part of the plan. The most important part of the plan. I stand at the helm while Astaria naps, having not killed anybody for at least two weeks. I could not be more proud.
Bluebrow is at my side suddenly, making gruff sounds and generally huffing in a way I know means he has something to say, he’s just waiting for permission to say it.
“What is it, Bluebrow?”
“The men may have forgiven Princess Astaria, but there are other problems.”
“Such as?”
“Fraternization.”
“Fraternization?”
“I’ve caught two of our warriors with the faye women in the last two days. Rutting like damned… any swift-to-reproduce animal you might care to name. And that’s only the two I’ve caught. By the time we get to the human planet, everybody who can be pregnant will be pregnant. And there’s going to be attachments formed. I’d say we’re going to lose as many crew as there are faye women when we leave. They’re going to want to stay.” Bluebrow sucks in a breath. “I’m starting to think the least destructive thing Astaria ever did was kill at random. By her actions, our entire way of being is under threat. We can’t sail the universe starting war with a berth of babies. Babies of any species are absolutely useless at combat besides scythkin, and frankly, I don’t think they count as babies.”
“Tell you what. Let’s invade the planet, and then see how we all feel about it.”
My advisors are given to worry. It is what they are for. I know what I am doing, and I know this will work out, at least, as well as any war ever works out. We are getting so close I can actually see the planet on long-range visual scans.
It comes closer and closer as we travel at close to the speed of light until finally, we are there, right back where we began.
“There’s a transmission coming from the planet,” Redpelt says from the other side of the bridge. “I think the humans know we’re in orbit. Do you want to talk to the king? Or should we just shoot his palace off the face of the planet?”
“I think this whole invasion is going to be a more up close and personal one,” I say. “Ground forces, not outer space nukes. We want to keep as much of the place intact as possible.”
“You want to talk?”
“Sure. Why not. Put him on.”
King Arthas appears on screen in front of me. He is smug as ever, for reasons I will never understand. Why is it that unremarkable human men have such great confidence for no apparent reason?
“No returns,” he laughs at me.
“I’m not here to return Astaria. I’m here to take your world.”
He huffs and he puffs and he lets out a laugh that dies on his lips.
“Don’t do that.”
“Too late. We’ll see you soon. Alrighty, bye then.”
I sign off with a smile. It is time to wake Astaria.
“Why am I so tired all the time?” She groans the question at me as she rouses from slumber. She’s been curled up in bed for most of the day for the last week at least. I think it is a kind of pre-invasion jitters.
“I don’t know, you don’t have to come. We are ready to invade, though, so if you’d like to come…”
She’s already up. She’s dressed in a light gown with straps passing across her midsection and legs, each and every one of them containing a weapon of some kind. She has the faye sword in hand, and clearly intends to do some serious damage with it.
“Let’s go,” I say. “We’ve got a shuttle to board.”
We launch ten thousand manned shuttles at once. Of course, the planet has defenses, but it does not have ten thousand shuttles’ worth of defenses. There are also twenty thousand unmanned decoys to draw fire. That means that the few hundred cannons capable of downing one of our shuttles are more than overrun. It’s almost too easy, but all the best invasions are. If you throw enough manpower at an enemy, they crumble.
The shuttle Astaria and I are on heads straight for the very center of Arthas’ realm. We land outside the palace, where the shuttle cracks open like a particularly dangerous egg.