I was in the middle of hacking up more blood when he said that. I turned towards him and watched in horror as his tails snaked out and stabbed into a nearby bruiser. “Tell me where the children are, now.”

  A few of the gathered skinks sprinted away but most just still just stood still and watched. I staggered to my feet and cracked out. “Fuck you pig!” He didn’t even look at me, his attention focused on the ranks gathered around me. However he did send a tail to slam into my side and come out the other.

  I screeched in pain as he stomped on a nearby skink, killing him instantly. “Please point me towards the location of the children. All will be punished.” I once again stood up, blood leaking out of almost every opening in my body as I yelled. “Soldiers! Kill this thing!”

  No one moved. Not even one of the so-called zealots moved a muscle. I desperately screamed. “Soldiers! For the glory of Zayan! For the unification of our species! Kill him!” My voice was shrill by the end as they all just stared at me.

  Then one yelled. “False queen!” This chant was taken up by almost everyone as my so-called army of loyalists turned against me. The large bruiser nodded and said. “Good, do not betray your people ever again. You are all once again unclaimed. This traitor is no longer considered a queen. She is nothing. Just a delusional child. Now, where are her children?”

  A windclaw walked up and said. “They’re in the castle. I’ll go in first if you would like, they trust me.”

  I felt like I was about to throw up as I realized it was Tetel that had supplied the information. I didn’t even feel angry anymore, all I felt was despair. Everything was crumbling, falling apart. And I wasn’t even strong enough to stand up while my kids were slaughtered by a monster.

  The monster shook his head and said. “Bring them to me, I will not walk into an ambush.” Tetel nodded and said. “Of course.” As he walked towards the castle he passed me and muttered. “Do not worry my Queen.”

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  Tears fell from my face as he sprinted into the castle. The bruiser walked over to me and said. “You will watch them die, then you will be brought before the true queen so she may kill you herself.”

  I nodded and said. “Fuck you!” My tail hurtled towards his side but it simply bounced off his scales. He shook his head and said. “Disappointing.” As he opened his mouth I slammed my tail into it and into the roof of his mouth. I felt it sink into soft flesh and could feel it moving deeper but with a snap of his jaws the feeling was lost.

  I screamed in pain as he snarled, blood pouring out of his mouth. “I will take my time tearing your children apart.” I was still screaming in pain. The tail seemed to be quite sensitive. Or maybe the asshole had something that made his bites more painful.

  He frowned for a second before smiling and saying. “I’m sure you won’t die if I crush your legs. My queen won’t mind.” He lifted his gigantic foot and was about to slam it down when I heard an all too familiar cry. “For the Queen! For the Queen! Protect the Queen!”

  Hundreds of windclaws sprinted towards me, led by Uno. Behind them was the entirety of my original army. They launched themselves at the large bruiser, covering him in a tide of bodies as a few rushed over to me and said. “You must escape my Queen! Tetel is evacuationing your children and the hatchings. We’ll hold them off.”

  I was a bit confused on why they couldn’t just kill him but my question was answered when the ginormous bruiser burst out of their dog pile, bodies flying all around him as he screamed. “I will slaughter you all!”

  A few windclaws worked together to throw me onto their backs as the brute ripped through people to make his way over to me. I yelled at him. “I’m gonna come back someday! And I’m gonna take a shit on your corpse!”

  As we began to escape the brute screamed. “Kill her and your children and my queen will claim you!” The horde that had previously just been watchings burst into action. They slammed into our ranks, slaughtering the ones they had previously planned to protect.

  The ten windclaws carrying me didn’t falter as we sprinted towards the mountains. Tears fell down my face as I watched Uno get ripped apart by three bruisers. I couldn’t even see the rest of my commanders but I knew they would most likely die the same way.

  We made it to the base of the mountain and I saw Tetel standing beside two weeping hatchings. Marlow and James. Tears of relief streamed down my face as Tetel stared at me with so much sorrow on his face I thought he might die.

  I stared at him questionly as he began to speak. “I’m so sorry my Queen. They swarmed us just as we were leaving. They took Tim, Tom, Charlie and Chester.” I turned towards the bruiser and saw that my entire army had been destroyed. He stood on a hill of corpses, four small hatchlings impaled on his tails.

  He smiled at me as he yelled. “I’m coming for the rest of them soon enough! Don’t you ever come back!” He let the four little corpses slide to the ground and fall into the pile of corpses below him. My vision went dark as pain overwhelmed me.