Chapter 11 revised 1/20/10

The Golden age of Antar started when Zan's predecessor took the throne. Caleb was the brother of Marius, Kivar's father. Caleb after years of marriage and no heir apparent, he named six year old Zan - nephew by marriage- his successor. Marius had died by this time and this succession was what caused the golden age to go up in flames. Kivar never understood why he was not Caleb's successor, since he was a direct descendant of the throne not some relative by marriage.

Thirteen years later Caleb died and Zan took the throne. At his coronation Ava, the love of Kivar's life, was name Zan's betrothed. Theirs was love at first sight, and their wedding went without fail. Kivar's quest for vengeance multiplied, not only had Zan taken his throne but he had taken his woman. He had planned to marry Valondra and kill Zan before they had a chance to produce an heir, only to find out that Valondra had fallen in love with the ambassador prince from Onuris. So he was forced to wait for another opportunity to destroy Zan, and he found one. Zan and Valondra got into an argument over the creation of a new law that further restricted women's rights. Before long their feud expanded. Wrath hadn't stood up on his wife's behalf so there was a rift between them. Kivar played on Valondra's insecurities and convinced her that Wrath was having an affair with her best friend, Ava. Valondra was blinded by jealousy and Kivar continued to plant doubt in her heart, eventually he became her lover. She even started to believe that he truly loved her. Kivar had managed to create an army of supporters and when he seized the Palace their world began to tumble down.

The Great Massacre was what the historians called it. Neither man, woman, nor child were spared. The first among the royals to die was Valondra. As the rebels invaded she was meeting Kivar in their secret place, as he had asked her to. She was oblivious to the trouble at the palace. Wrath had gone searching for her only to come in as Kivar was about to kill her. Kivar told him everything; Valondra was helpless and uncertain not wanting to believe that she was responsible. She heard of his plans for slaughter and as he raised his hand to kill Wrath she threw herself in front of him taking the blow. She died instantly falling into Wrath's arms. Wrath got up and went after Kivar only to lose sight of him.

Wrath found Ava and told her everything. On their way to safety, they were caught by Kivar's men. Once there, they were forced along with Zan to watch him behead Zan and Ava's children then Wrath too met his demise. Zan livid with rage and grief was then forced to watch his wife die at the hands of a mad man, compared to the agony of watching his family die his own death was painless.

Xx

"Focus you energy on the target." Michael instructed.

"I'm trying" Isabelle complained, her hormones had done a number on her abilities. Only two months after giving birth she was still tired. Little Talon had a healthy appetite and it was taking a lot out her. Add that to the stress of an upcoming war and training she just felt like she wasn't the warrior they all needed, she wasn't strong enough.

"Valondra could …"

"I'm not her Michael. I don't know how."

"I know you're not her." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back into his chest. "You can invade and manipulate dreams, there is no reason why you can't do what Tess does."

"I work in subconscious"

"Just try. They conscious mind still has a level of sub conscious."

"What if I mess up?"

"Max can handle it."

"Any day now Izzy" Max spoke up from across the clearing.

"Ignore him; I'm going to go help Tess with her form."

-

"Is she doing any better?" Tess asked

"She has good hand – eye coordination. Her archery skills are better than Valondra's ever was, physically she's getting stronger. Mentally, her abilities are still off. She should be able to cast illusions. Even her telekinesis is off."

"I'm sure she'll get better she's only been training for a few weeks."

"I'm not sure if she should be doing so much so soon." Michael said concerned for his wife's wellbeing.

"We have a healer, Michael, and the doctor said it was fine. She's not sparing"

"I know I just want her safe. You ready."

"Go easy on me okay"

"Not likely" Each picking up a 6ft wood staff. They circled each other Tess attempted the first blow Michael blocked it. Several strikes later.

"Practice your combinations; I'm going to check on Maxwell."

"Okay" she said rising from the dusty desert floor. Good thing Max can heal me. She though glad she wouldn't have to be black and blue much longer. Then again maybe if she were she'd get a day off.

-

"You okay Maxwell."

"This damned bow is pointless."

"You're working on aim and upper body strength."

"Why do we even need weapons? We have our abilities."

"True but we don't know what kind of technology they have developed on Antar since we've been gone. The Granolith says that if they were able to create a device that sent out just the right frequency of electro-magnetic pulses they can disrupt our abilities. We need to be able to defend ourselves without them."

"Why couldn't Zan have known this stuff?"

"Outside of basic defense, what would a prince need to know weapons for? He has soldier and guards to defend him"

"Exactly so why am I doing this?"

"You're not on Antar, and when or if we get there you don't have an army, Kivar does."

"You were a prince, so shouldn't you be a bit more defenseless"

"From what I remember Onuris, a king rode into battle with his men, and all men regardless of status were soldiers first. We were also renown for our weaponary and defense technology."

" Lucky you. Can't I just skip archery and go spar with Tess."

"Fine. Has Isabelle succeeded yet?"

"I'm not sure what she's trying to do."

"I'll take that as a no." Michael had instructed Isabelle to do something simple. Make Max's skin turn green, or at least make Max believe his skin was green.

"How's it coming" She was seating on the ground meditating.

"I can feel his thoughts, even hear a few strands but I just don't get why its not working."

Their training consisted of three hour days, five days a week: Weight training, archery, and sparring hand to hand then with staffs, mental expansion with meditation and yoga, and next month they were going to the firing range.

Isabelle figured maybe Michael hadn't given her a good enough illusion so she tried something different. Some things you just knew were false, so it was harder to make them believe its true. Instead of green skin, she switched her focus to poisonous snake. She pictured it slithering against the desert floor, sand across it's scales, slowly approaching where Max and Tess were working out. Instead of Attacking Max she made it appear to Attack Tess. Sending those images to Max she was shocked that it worked. Max pushed Tess out the way in an attempt to save her from a non-existent predator.

"MAX, TESS every…"

"I did it." Isabelle said bouncing happily

"Where did it go?" Max asked Tess

"What?" Tess asked

Looking to Isabelle she saw her laughing and exchanging hugs with her husband.

"Izzy's powers are getting stronger."

"That's great." Micheal said to Izzy and decided that since she was doing so well they could wrap things up early today.

Michael and Isabelle approached Tess and Max. "We're going to end early today."

"Thank goodness. I need a shower and a massage" Tess stated hooking her arm through Max's

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The training section is a newly added scene. Let me know what you think. For those of you who are new to the story I hope you're enjoying it. - Jaz