Verge: A Cosmic Collection

Above the Salt

The royal gong sounded twice, its low thrum resonating through the floor and the throne dais. Lyalitu gloated over the amphibious Tlavisar courtiers, her subjects. They cowered before her. Their dark gray scales glistened, barbed fins folded at their sides, gills trembling on their blunt throats. Pathetic creatures. Without her, they'd still be bottom-feeders in the murky seas outside the haven she'd created for them.

Lyalitu lifted a fleshy arm and bellowed through her speech vents. "Bring forth our tribute." Beautiful slime dripped from her fingers and splattered on the stone tiles. She focused her compound eye toward the chamber entrance.

A Tlavisar conclave approached her throne. Three elders, garbed in the long woven kelp-fiber cloaks traditional to their rank. One carried a large sack over its shoulder, hobbling on webbed feet. The other two bore the devotional platter.

Lyalitu's eight stomach-sacs grumbled in unison. "Set it before us."

The conclave obeyed. Their large, fishy eyes remained lowered, chin tentacles writhing. With a swift bow, they scurried backward.

The third elder stood rigid, unmoving.

Too hungry to scold this insolent one just yet, Lyalitu crawled toward the platter. Upon it rested the first Tlavisar eggs of the season. The hermaphroditic Tlavisar spawned twice a planetary cycle. Their first eggs were always the juiciest. She scooped one up and raised it to her puckered feeding orifice. A tiny, black-eyed embryo squirmed within the transparent shell membrane.

She sucked the egg down. It burst sweet against the back of her throat, and she swallowed it whole. "We are pleased, and you all shall be rewarded."

The courtiers pressed toward her in a flurry, each clutching a small metal sphere. They wheezed for preference, begging for a recharge.

Lyalitu wiped her feeding proboscis clean and retracted it into her face. Gobs of digestive enzymes dribbled onto the broad layers of her chest. The prehensile filaments embedded in her jeweled headdress extended, reaching in spidery condescension toward her devotees. One by one, she caressed the spheres her subjects presented. Her chargers connected with the receptors, and precious electric power surged from the reserves into the Tlavisar batteries.

"Life for life, this is our gift." She grabbed another egg and gulped it down.

These primitive, desperate creatures would do anything for the electricity she offered, including the sacrifice of their children. Savages, really. Easily manipulated into her game. All she had to do was charge their simple technology, and they'd do anything for her. Worshipped her. Fell before her magnificence and gave her everything she needed. What a glorious position she'd achieved. Damn the Syndicate of the Star-Ways and their foolish laws. Lyalitu was a goddess on this remote, backward world called Tlavisaro.

The defiant elder still stood apart, hood pulled low over its face. Its scaled lips were pressed firm, finned tail arched. A low wail gurgled from its throat. "Stop!" Its voice seized the attention of everyone in the chamber. "What are we, my people, to grovel before this false tyrant and offer our babies as if they were candy? For what, a few spindly trinkets and comforts of living in her prison?"

Lyalitu screeched and raised all four of her arms. "Guards, arrest that one and lock it in the vats."

The guards ignored her. Every Tlavisar in the room stared at the upstart.

The elder threw its hood back, and gasps filled the air.

"Urgnatta Blar-phex-soo!" a courtier shouted.

Another sighed and lifted its hands to its mouth. "The banished one, has it truly returned?"

"Traitor!" Lyalitu snarled. "You were commanded to never return, under pain of death. Who let you in? Who?"

Still, the Tlavisar ignored her. Every awestruck face in the crowd watched Urgnatta.

Urgnatta splayed all of its fins and grinned. Its embedded spines flared in a menacing array. "I let myself in, once your guards listened and decided to join me. I am the last of the Puiy-tnas fighters, and I have unfinished business with you, slug queen." With a wiry arm, it drew a long, gleaming broadsword from its back. "Fight, all of you. Down with the usurper!"

Lyalitu's laughter rumbled deep in her rotund gut. "Stupid pond-muckers. Have you forgotten? Your sword is no threat to us." She drew her own blade, a crescent scythe engraved with the insignia of every life she'd harvested. In a single swipe she sliced off one of her own hands at the wrist. Another hand soon began to grow in its place, the regenerative trait of her own species, the Dlimacidat.

"I have not forgotten. And in my exile, I met others from your sky-kingdom. I've traveled the Star-Ways of the Galactic Syndicate. Through much trial, I have learned of your own kind's weakness." Urgnatta kicked the sack at its feet, and white granules spilled across the floor.

Lyalitu's heart raced. She slithered back, her blade aloft, cold terror quaking through her. "S-salt? Fiend! This is forbidden. We command you to....to..."

"To avenge our children and the many others you've killed and tortured? Gladly." Urgnatta's gooey tongue lashed out and slathered the broadsword in blue spittle. It then coated the sword with salt. "Join me, brave Tlavisar."

The Tlavisar rushed to the salt and dipped their fin barbs in it.

Nowhere to flee. Her guards had betrayed her. Lyalitu snatched the platter of eggs and held it in shaking arms. She retreated to a corner of the chamber while the Tlavisar slowly surrounded her.

"Put the eggs down," Urgnatta glared. "Surrender, and we can discuss your fate before the Grand Conclave of the Deep. They may be merciful to you."

Surrender, and she'd lose all she'd gained. These fish-frog scoundrels would banish her back to the Star-Ways, where countless enemies would destroy her once they discovered her whereabouts. No, she'd never submit. A Dlimacidat queen always prevails. And so shall I.

She lurched forward, a rolling mass of slime and membranes, and swung her blade toward Ugnatta's head.

Ugnatta parried the strike with a loud clang, and the two wrestled against each other's strength.

The other Tlavisar crashed over her like a wave of unbound fury. Salted barbs pierced her body on all sides.

Shrieking, Lyalitu thrashed and dropped the platter of eggs. Several Tlavisar scrambled to rescue them before they were trampled.

All traitors. Liars. Worthless. I enlightened you, lifted you out of barbarism, and this is how you repay me?

Might have known the rabble would have their revenge. Perhaps it had been too good to last. She'd had the luxuries of royalty for a short time. It had been worth it. It had been divine, though her perfection now dissolved into a bubbling green puddle.