Title: Mythology
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Author's note: This story takes place directly after "Interlude: Remembrance." It is helpful if you have read the previous three stories in this series. This is set up the same way as "The Crucible," that is, it takes place over the course of two weeks and each chapter is a single day, with the fifteenth chapter being the climax of the story. This will basically be a story about war, with a little bit of intrigue, so expect death and destruction. I'll never write anything too graphically, though, because I can't stand detailed descriptions of blood and guts. But this will be dark.
As always, please read and review. Oh, and when you review, please make sure you are logged in, or leave your e-mail in the appropriate box. I would love to respond to you all, but if you aren't logged in (coughEllethielcough) it makes it more difficult.
this is the stuff of legends...
Chapter One: The Storm Gathers
Day 1
Khai rubbed his weary eyes and watched as the pale sun rose slowly over the horizon. It had been almost three months since the attack on Larek's planet, the attack that had left almost no one alive. Khai growled under his breath and slammed his fist onto the window sill.
He wished he could kill Audin again.
Traitor.
Forcing himself to turn away from the window, Khai walked over to the chair by the fireplace and fell into it. He had to plan his next move, but he hardly knew what to do. He had fled the planet, charged by the dying Larek with the task of keeping the Granolith out of Khivar's hands. Three months, and he was still running. Khivar had sent thousands of men after him, and every time he let his guard down, one of them attacked.
It was a good sign, it meant that Khivar was getting desperate. And that meant that he had not been able to capture either the Queen or her son. He would have no reason to fear the power of the Granolith if he had the Heir…no, Khivar corrected himself mentally, if he had Alex, because he would then have a legitimate claim to the thrown.
But had he reached Earth yet? Had he gone after Vilandra? Had he managed to bring the traitorous Princess back? Was his travel technology complete?
Khai shuddered. If Khivar had complete the technology, then he would have the ability to instantly appear anywhere in the entire universe. Which meant…oh, what was that human saying?
You can hide, but you can't run?
Khai shook his head. Perhaps it was supposed to be the other way around? His knowledge of human culture was quite limited. But no matter, the saying worked well to describe his predicament. Because if Khivar ever found out where he was…
Well, Khai was no match for the skin King.
Khai lifted a small object from the table next to the chair. It was a sphere, wrapped tightly in layers of cloth and secured with twine and ribbon. Khai closed his eyes and felt the power radiating from the sphere.
The Granolith.
Khai opened his eyes and set the sphere back down, then walked over to the window. He licked his dry lips and watched as the world around him awoke. He had traveled from planet to planet, sneaking in and out of secret pathways, in an attempt to stay one step away from Khivar. But Khivar's best men had been chasing him, and he didn't know how much longer he could avoid them.
There had been seventeen attacks in the two months. Mostly, these happened while he was in space, traveling to another planet. A few had actually happened on the planet he was hiding in, and he had been forced to flee almost immediately, leaving behind everything he owned save the Granolith.
How much longer could he run?
He needed time.
And time was, quite unfortunately, the one thing he did not have.
Khivar had followed him across the infinite universe. Where could he hide now? Where could he go that Khivar would not be able to find him?
Khai shook his head in frustration and closed his eyes again, feeling the warmth of the rising sun on his face. He thought of the Queen, and wondered where she was. He had never once made an effort to figure it out, knowing that the less people who knew her exact location, the safer she would be. What was that human saying she had recited once at a Council Meeting?
Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead.
Khai laughed abruptly, smiling at the memory. He still had his reservations about this new Queen, but she had proven to be clear-headed and dedicated, and she truly wanted to stop Khivar. Which was more than he could say about the other Royals…
Khai shook his head in disgust. How could they have stayed on Earth? How could they have abandoned their people like that?
Rath…no, it was Michael now. He wanted to see Michael. He wanted to see his brother, wanted to know that he was truly alive and well. But Michael had chosen to stay behind with Zan and Vilandra, and now Khai would never get the chance to meet the hybrid.
Did Michael want to know him? Did he ever wonder if he had family anywhere? Did he ever search for that family, long for them? Or did he simply not care?
Khai snorted and shook his head. Sentimental thoughts would get him nowhere. He was a General, and he needed a plan. A logical plan that would keep him safe while Khivar's best soldiers, mercenaries, and spies followed him across the universe.
An idea suddenly occurred to Khai, and idea that worked its way through his mind. He thought about it, contemplating the pros and cons, then nodded, satisfied. It was not the best plan, but it would have to work.
Khivar could pursue him anywhere, so he could not outrun the skin King. It was a matter of choosing the right hiding spot. But instead of choosing a place he thought Khviar could never find, he should choose a place Khivar would never dream of looking.
There are many ways to hide something, but the best hiding place is the one that is in plain sight.
And who in their right mind would take the Granolith back to the person they were running from? Khivar expected him to be far away, he would never search his own planet for the Antarian general.
It was time to return to Antar.
Arya walked over to the chair in her sitting room and collapsed into it, exhausted after a long day of battles. The Royal army had breached the walls at Jorin and taken the cities of Kos and Tri earlier that afternoon, completing their circle around the capital city. Reports had come from within the city that Khivar had finished his technology, and now was able to be anywhere, to possess anyone, without alerting others to his presence.
The only good news was that rumor had it the Princess had refused to come back.
How long had it been since Larek's planet fell? Only three months? The planet was uninhabited now. After Larek had died, Khivar had systematically destroyed every city on the entire planet and salted the earth of the most profitable farms. And now nothing was left of the once great king and his people.
Several of the planet's inhabitants had fled and sought safety in other planets. Because Khivar was still watching the secret pathways, none had been able to come to Antar and join the Resistance here, but a few had managed to provide intelligence and supplies, although it had not been easy.
Audin had been the biggest surprise, and Arya would never have believed it if she did not see the results of his actions with her own eyes. An entire planet destroyed, and for what?
Closing her eyes, the silver-haired alien allowed her mind to drift back to the first time she had been contacted by the soldier on the Queen's ship. The soldier had told her that the Queen was fleeing to Antar and crossing the desert…and Arya had thought it was madness. But every night she reached out to connect with the Queen, and after three months, the Queen was still alive.
The clock behind her struck midnight. It was time to contact the Queen again.
She closed her eyes and let her mind reach out across the emptiness, honing in on the one presence that she wished to find. It took a moment, but she finally sensed the Queen and approached cautiously, extending mental feelers to warn the other alien of her arrival.
Hello, my Lady.
Hello, Arya.
Are you well? If I may be so bold to say so, you sound troubled.
I dreamt about Earth last night. I saw what happened when Isabel reverted to Vilandra.
But she reverted back, my Lady.
Yes.
Then what are you troubled about, my Lady?
There was a pause, and Arya thought, for a moment, that the Queen would not answer. But she finally did, her thoughts disturbed and upset.
They think I am a traitor.
The other Royals?
Yes.
Arya was at a loss for words. She rubbed her temples and thought for a moment, trying to come up with something comforting to say. Finally, she managed only a weak answer.
Are you sure?
Yes, I saw it. I saw…Well, they didn't actually think I betrayed them. But the questioned it. They doubted my innocence.
I am sorry.
Tell me what has been happening. Were there more attacks today?
Yes,
my Lady. Many more…
Khivar paced the room, his scowl dark and foreboding. He hissed short breaths from in between his teeth and slammed his feet onto the floor with startling fury. Nicolas watched in silence, shifting from one foot to the other, afraid of drawing attention to himself while the skin king was in such a foul mood.
Finally, Khivar stopped his pacing and turned to Nicolas. "Vilandra escaped me," he said quietly. "All that trouble was for nothing."
"We have technology that would allow you to take possession of anyone in the entire universe, my Lord," Nicolas pointed out. He tilted his head to one side. "Think of the possibilities. How easy it would be to infiltrate the Resistance…" His smile grew into a smirk, his eyes flashing with delight at the prospect.
Khivar nodded in acquiescence. "But I wanted Vilandra," he murmured, almost more to himself than to Nicolas.
Nicolas eyes the skin king oddly. After the fall of the Royal Four and the death of Vilandra, most of the population of Antar had written Khivar's affair with the Princess off as nothing more than means to an end…the end of Zan's rule. But standing here, listening to Khivar bemoan the loss of Vilandra, Nicolas could only come to one fairly astounding conclusion.
Khivar was in love with Vilandra.
"Once you destroy the Resistance, and the other three Royals, there will be no one to stand between you and the Princess, Sire," Nicolas pointed out. "After all, it was the human hybrids who caused her to revert back to her hybrid self, correct?"
Khivar nodded again, this time thoughtfully. "True, Nicolas." He turned and walked over to the window, staring up at the sky. "And at least my trip to Earth was not a complete waste of time."
"How so?" Nicolas questioned, breathing a sigh of relief as he realized the skin king had a much better disposition now.
"Ava was able to warn Vilandra of my plans," Khivar explained. "Which means that she had been with the Resistance when we attacked Larek's planet."
"We already knew that," Nicolas ventured, swallowing nervously as he corrected the temperamental king.
"No," Khivar said, "we suspected it. But we found no trace of her ever having been on the planet, accept for Audin's word." He shook his head in exasperation. "If any of the soldiers saw her during the battle, they were all killed before they could report to us. Larek's advisors did a good job of covering their tracks."
Nicolas opened his mouth to respond, then hesitated, the comment frozen at the tip of his tongue. He looked away briefly, closing his mouth and dropping shutters over his eyes so as not to betray his actual thoughts.
But Khivar saw the action and frowned. "What?" he demanded. "What were you going to say?"
Wondering if he was being incredibly foolish or not, Nicolas said, "Why hunt for the Queen? We now have the technology to possess anyone. Wouldn't it be better if we just used it on the Resistance? We could crush them within the week."
Khivar shook his head. "N0. The Resistance knows we have the technology, and they are probably looking for anyone who starts acting oddly. When I penetrate their defenses, I must be acting perfectly, I must have the role down to the very last detail…" He let the sentence hang in the air like a puff of smoke. "This is too good an opportunity to waste by rushing."
"So we focus on the Queen?" It was more a statement than a question, but Nicolas left enough diffidence in his voice to appease Khivar.
Khivar nodded, a slow smile spreading across his face. He turned again and looked out at the sky. He opened the window with a swift, deft movement, breathing in the fresh air. "We have separated her from the other Royals, made them doubt her again. She cannot go to Earth for help."
"I don't know," Nicolas chanced to disagree. "The three Royals were quick to condemn her before, if they have learned from past mistakes, they will not be so quick to condemn her again."
"True," Khivar agreed, pleased with his second-in-command's thinking. "But I have planted the seed of doubt in their minds, they will not be so quick to trust her either. She will not go back, not unless she has no other option."
"But how does this help us? We've ruled out one planet, but there are an infinite number left…" Nicolas protested. "And no one knows where she went when she left Larek's planet."
Khivar shook his head. "She could not have just disappear into thin air," he countered. "She had to have left the planet by a ship, which means that someone had to fly the ship for her."
"Why couldn't she have flown it herself, my Lord?" Nicolas protested. "She flew the Granolith."
"The ship that the Granolith powered was made so that any of the hybrids would instinctively know how to control it. But it was only a one way trip, so whatever ship she left Larek's planet on…"
"She would not know how to fly," Nicolas finished, smiling smugly.
Khivar turned to face his second-in-command. "There is an old saying from Earth, Nicolas. Three people can keep a secret, only if two of them are dead. Someone out there knows where the Queen is, and I intend to find that person."
Tess groaned and rocked her son back and forth, her tired eyes traveling over the sleeping infant. Arya's news about the destruction of more cities had been disturbing, they would have to mount an attack soon, or risk having Khivar crush them before she arrived.
"Is this all my life is ever going to be?" Tess murmured. "One battle after another? The blows just keep on coming…" She placed Alex on the desert floor, making sure he was well protected in the warm blanket, then stood and stretched her muscles. Her body ached beyond belief, but she knew the long journey was far from over. She was closer to her final destination now, perhaps only two more weeks.
Still, that was a full two weeks she would have to walk. And she was running low on food and water.
But that was not what bothered her now. No, now she was thinking about Earth, and about the people she left behind. She had seen the doubt in Max's and Michael's eyes when Khivar told them she was a traitor. They didn't know who to believe, and she had to admit, quite reluctantly, that Khivar was a good liar. But still…
Had she expected them to know the truth? They barely knew her. She had entered there lives only a little over a year ago, and had scared all of them off with her talk of destiny. Was she a fool for thinking that Max would remember his love for her? Or was Max the fool for ever thinking he could escape destiny?
Tess gave a bitter chuckle. He had escaped destiny.
Little did she know just how wrong she was.
"I saw her again," Max said quietly, taking a seat next to Michael on the sofa in his room. He ran a hand through his hair and gave a short laugh, ironic and dark. "I was standing in the bread aisle at the grocery store, and there she was, looking at the whole wheat."
Michael gave his friend a sympathetic look. "You're just imagining it, Max. That's all."
"I know," Max hissed, angrily slamming his fist onto the coffee table. "I don't love her. I don't believe in destiny! Hell, for all I know, Khivar was telling the truth and she really did betray us. But she is still there, still haunting me. I can't get her to leave me alone." He buried his face in his hands and muttered in a slightly muffled voice, "I love Liz."
"I know," Michael answered. And he did know. He knew that Max loved Liz, and always would, and that nothing could ever change that. He also knew that Tess would always be there, a black cloud hovering over them all, reminding them of the mistakes they had made.
They had either invited a murdering traitor into their group and then let her escape, pregnant, from the planet after she killed one of their best friends; or they had betrayed one of their only allies and sent her, pregnant, from the planet right into the hands of her greatest enemy. Either way, they had screwed up.
And whether Max loved her or not, whether Isabel and Michael were friends with her or not, whether they trusted her or not, Tess would always be there, casting her shadow over them all, preventing them from moving past their sins and seeking forgiveness and redemption.
And in that way, Tess had been right.
They couldn't escape destiny.
Next Chapter: The Army Moves
Due: Friday 1/27
