Chapter Thirty-Six: War (part three)

Everyone's counting on you
Save for yourself what to do
Life is a card that you lay down sometimes

"Do you hear that?"

Max jumped at Isabel's whisper and glanced towards his sister. Her eyes were wide and he could see the raw fear on her face. There were footsteps on the stairs, soft and rapid. Approaching skins. But the air was warmer than it had been moments ago, indication of Tess' success with the fire. And the rumbling of the ground that had occurred before that had clearly showed that Michael's avalanche had worked.

So how many skins were left?

Before he could think of that, though, Alex's voice was whispering to him through the crackling of his earpiece.

"Guys?"

"Yeah?" Max replied, his eyes still focused on the door, his attention on sound of footsteps, on the approaching skins.

"You're going to have company." There was a weariness in Alex's tone that Max didn't like, and a hesitation as though he was slightly afraid of what he was going to say. "Courtney is on her way."

Max's gaze moved towards Isabel, and he saw the horror in her expression. Then he felt Liz's fingers wrapping around his wrist for a brief moment as her voice whispered in his ear, "Oh, God, Max… why?"

But he couldn't answer because the door swung open and the skins came bursting into the room, swarming through the doorway like ants. Max had only a moment to see the fear in Isabel's eyes grow into wild panic before he was turning around to face the oncoming enemy, his arms outstretched. The burst of energy that exploded from his palms illuminated the large room, but little damage. The attack was easily absorbed the first row of skins who conjured shields to protect themselves and their enemies.

Still, the blinding light did temporarily stun the skins, and the Royalists around Max used that to their advantage. Two of the Royalists ran forward, throwing themselves towards their enemy. They were followed quickly be several others, and then Ahab was attacking as well. Max had only time to witness the fighting devolve into hand-to-hand combat and then a skin was in front of him, leering.

Rough hands grabbed at him, but he kicked out hard with one foot, catching the skin in the shins. The man fell over, and then Liz was there, slamming a metal pole into the skin's back and shattering his husk.

Above him, there was a flash of light, and the sound of something exploding, then tiny pieces of glass came raining down on him.

"Max, behind you!"

Isabel's panicked shout caused Max to turn and raise his shield, and instinctual movement that probably saved his life. The electricity hit his shield and forced him backwards, but did not break through the force-field. He stumbled, though, and nearly fell into the wall at his back.

The skin advanced, green sparks shooting up and down his arm, dots of light swirling around his closed fist. He raised his hand and slammed his fist into Max's shield and the entire thing evaporated into air.

"Get away from him!" Liz suddenly screamed, coming out of nowhere and raking her nails along the skins' face. He cried out, shocked, as she peeled away dry skin, and was unprepared for her to proceed to punch him in the jaw.

He stepped back, and Max took that opportunity to place his palm against the skin's chest, and a moment later his entire body exploded into pieces of dead skin.

Max looked down at his hand, unsure exactly what he had done. His palm was glowing.

"How did you…?" Liz started, and then stopped as she caught sight of the skin on her hands and stuck under her fingernails. Her expression turned from one of wonder to one of disgust.

But there wasn't time to think about any of this, and Max turned back towards the others. There was chaos everywhere, and the sound of fighting nearly deafened him.

Max had lost track of Isabel, and he scanned the room for her. But before he could locate his sister, another skin was coming towards him, and then another and another and another. He ducked a blast and a bookshelf to his right was torn apart, fragments of wood falling to the floor. Waving his hand at them, he telekinetically lifted the shards into the air and sent them spiraling towards the skins. One managed to pierce a skin's husk, but the others were easily deflected.

A pair of hands grabbed at him and he tore himself away, spinning to face his new attacker. But Liz was already there, hitting the skin repeatedly with her metal pole, until finally his husk cracked. Another skin came up behind her and grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her around and placing his hands on her head. She started screaming in pain, her body shaking and writhing as the skin's fingers glowed, and Max felt a surge of rage and fear and threw himself at the enemy, knocking him away from Liz.

They both went tumbling, falling into the middle of the fight and rolling on the broken glass and wood. Max rolled over and punched the skin in the nose. The skin retaliated by tossing him side with ease, and Max barely had time to register that he was being thrown into the air before he hit the wall and slid to his hands and knees.

He looked up in time to see Ahab break the skin's husk. The Royalist nodded to him briefly, then spun and faced the next skin. He was fighting without pause, without even the slightest bit of hesitation. His hands were constantly glowing as energy and electricity jumped from him and hurtled towards the skins.

The dark red stain on his own shirt sleeve caught Max's attention, and he looked down with a frown, watching as it spread. He hadn't even realized he'd been injured, the adrenaline from the fight preventing him from feeling pain.

Then Liz pulled him to his feet and the two of them turned to face the next enemy.

To his right, he saw Kristalia exchanging blows with several skins. She was surrounded on all four sides, but this did not seem to bother her or even slow her down. She hit the first skin in the throat, momentarily closing his windpipe, and he dropped to his hands and knees on the ground. The second one grabbed her arm and she turned and kicked at him, forcing him to let go of her. He retaliated by throwing her to the ground, but as she fell, she flung out both arms and tripped the three standing skins, bringing them down with her. Then she grabbed a piece of broken wood and shattered the first skin's husk, knocked the next once over and threw an ball of white light at him, causing him to explode, kicked the third one away from her, and shoved her wooden stake into the chest of the last one.

He realized vaguely that if Kristalia was here it meant that Michael and the other Royalists who had created the avalanche had come inside as well, and where somewhere in the compound.

He had to find Michael.

"Max!"

Isabel was screaming his name and he turned, moving away from Kristalia, trying to find her sister. A blast of energy seemed to appear out of nowhere and hit him directly in the chest, and he topped over and crashed to the floor. He heard Isabel scream again, and then the sound of callous laughter echoed in his ears. Something shattered, and the ground shook, and there was a cry of pain.

He pulled himself back to his feet. He still couldn't find Isabel and now Liz was separated from him as well. Darkness was creeping into his vision and he felt a wave of nausea and then dizziness. But he blinked rapidly, forcing his vision to clear, and started shoving his way through the mass of people tangled in combat.

He finally caught sight of Isabel, and felt his heart jump into his throat. She was fighting off three skins that had her surrounded, and she was clearly losing.

Then Liz was there as well, repeatedly beating one of the skins with her metal pole. Her shirt was spotted with blood and she had bruises on her arm.

Max didn't hesitate. He raced forward and grabbed one of the skins, trying to free Isabel from her attackers. In the center of the fight now, he could see what had not been clear from the edges of the room; the skins were not the only ones dying.

There were several Royalists on the ground, their bloodied bodies sprawled at odd angles. There was a girl with blue streaks in her hair and an older man with lifeless green eyes and two teenage boys with blood mixed into their hair and a woman with blood on her shirt. And he could see other bodies beyond that, obscured by the fighting skins and Royalists. He could see limbs sticking out at odd angles and could quite abruptly smell blood in the air.

He didn't even know most of their names, but they had died to protect him, and he felt guilt and grief suddenly crashing into him.

A cry from Isabel had him turning back towards her, and he watched in horror as she was suddenly knocked over. She fell, her head slamming against the ground, and was too stunned to move. Liz dropped to her knees beside the fallen hybrid, trying to shield her, but there were too many skins and they were outnumbered.

Max felt a fury burst from him. It turned his vision red and caused power to fly from his hands and overwhelm the skins near Isabel. They were destroyed almost immediately, disintegrating before they had a chance to protect themselves.

He ran to Isabel.

Her eyes were closed and there was blood on the ground beneath her head, and blood on Liz's hands and arms as well. Max reached out to heal her, but her eyes wouldn't open and he couldn't make the connection. And then Liz was looking past Max, her eyes widening in terror, and the shout of warning barely left her lips as Max twisted around and saw several skins descending on him.

He raised his hands to conjure a shield, but even as he did so, he knew it wouldn't be enough to protect them.

The attack never reached them. Kristalia appeared abruptly, efficiently dispatching of one of the skins with a firm blow to the back that cracked the husk's seal. She spun around gracefully and killed the next with a burst of green energy that fizzled in the air.

But she was outnumbered – too outnumbered – and before Max's eyes, she fell to her knees, blood spreading out across her chest from a wound she could not block. Another blow knocked her forward, and she threw out her hands to break her fall. Her hair – red, fiery – fell in front of her eyes, but Max still held her gaze, feeling horror, feeling grief. He didn't even like Kristalia, but she was dying in front of him and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

"Go!" she said, choking on blood that coated her lips, "Find Michael and Tess. Go."

And Max lifted Isabel into his arms and, with Liz at his side, ran from the room.

"Say goodbye to your wife, Zan."

He was bloody and battered, but the physical pain meant nothing at all to him. Those words, Khivar's cold, mocking comment, echoed in the room, and before the last syllable had left his enemy's lips, Zan had launched himself to his feet, ready to attack.

"No! Ava!" The word tore from his lips as he charged forward. He watched Ava struggled in Khivar's grip, saw the momentary look of fear flash through her eyes, and then saw something even worse.

Resignation.

It was only a split-second, a look that travelled through her eyes so quickly anyone else might have missed it. But he saw it, and he knew that, in that moment, she had realized and accepted the inevitable. She was going to die.

And then her body was falling lifelessly to the ground.

He did not hesitate. He did not think. He acted, his body moving of its own accord. He could not stop the fury that welled up inside of him. Rath was already dead, and now Ava, too. Because of Khivar, because of his thirst for power and need for control. The planet was falling to pieces, the warring factions at each other's throats, and now…

Ava was dead.

His hand connected with Khivar's face. His fingers were curled into a fist, and the force of the blow caused Khivar to stumble back a few steps. Surprise appeared on the usurper's face; he had clearly not been expecting anything quite so pedestrian as a physical punch. But Zan did not hesitate, did not stop. His knuckles had split and his hand was smeared with blood – his and Khivar's – but none of it mattered because…

Ava was dead.

Rath was dead.

And Lonnie…

He didn't think about it. Couldn't think about it. Couldn't think about her.

He grabbed Khivar by the collar of his shirt and yanked him to his feet. Khivar stumbled and reached up, his own fingers closing tightly around Zan's wrists, biting into his skin. Nicolas was at his side and the other skins were closing in and it was a loosing battle.

Zan knew that.

But he wasn't going without a fight.

The remnants of the wooden table lay scattered at his feet, and the insignia of the Royal Four only barely stood out among the ash and soot. The fire had burned away everything – including the inner guard, their faces frozen in looks of horror and helpless anguish, their bodies sprawled about as a testament to their last, futile attempt to protect their King – and all that was left was a feeling of desperation that lingered in the air.

Zan's hands began to glow with a bright white light, and Khivar screamed in agony and tore loose from his opponent's grip. Something hit Zan from behind and he fell to his knees, stars bursting into his vision. Something else hit him, and then again and again, and he was lying on the ground, vaguely aware of the soldiers gathered all around him. His eyes stung with tears, and blood dripped down from a long gash running across his forehead and he didn't even remember where the wound had come from.

But none of it mattered.

Khivar loomed over him. He was battered, too, and bruised as well. But he was triumphant, and his eyes shone with vicious glee. He hadn't killed Zan yet, and though this fight was causing him some pain, he seemed to be enjoying it.

Just as he had enjoyed taunting Zan earlier, telling him of Rath's death and Lonnie's betrayal. And killing his guards, destroying them with ease and disinterest, as though they were nothing, as though their lives were unimportant.

"Murderer!" Zan spat. His fingers curled around a few loose pieces of rubble and he threw them at Khivar, but Khivar simply laughed and dodged them, easily stepping aside. Then, in retaliation, he raised his hand and telekinetically flung Zan across the room. The King hit the far wall, his breath rushing from him, his head slamming backwards with a sickening crack.

For a moment, his vision turned dark.

Then he blinked and cleared his eyes. He could barely breath, the pressure on him was too much. He gasped and choked, and now Nicolas as laughing as well, a maniacal sound that sent shivers down Zan's spine. He looked away from Nicolas, and his eyes fell on Ava's lifeless body.

The anger exploded out of him. He did not mean for it to happen, but it did. The walls reverberated with the force of his power, and several of Khivar's soldiers were knocked to their knees. The Four Square insignia began to glow and he gaped at it. He could hardly breath at all and he felt drained, as though all his energy had been sapped from him, but the insignia was glowing…

He had commissioned it, had it carved into the floor the day after his coronation. It was supposed to represent his power, power that came only from his links to the other three. But those links had been broken by betrayal and death, and now it seemed nothing at all was left.

"Stop it!" Khivar screamed. "Stop it!"

Zan didn't know what was happening or what he was supposed to stop, but the hold on him was suddenly gone and he crumpled to the floor. His legs gave out completely, and he lay there for a moment, bewildered and stunned.

Then he forced himself to raise his head and he saw Nicolas and several of the soldiers clutching their heads and crying, screaming, shrieking, crawling around on their hands and knees.

Then Khivar was standing over him again. His face was pale and wan, his eyes were filled with pain and fury, and he had one hand extended outwards, towards his enemy.

"Goodbye, Zan," he said, and his fingertips glowed a bright orange, and everything erupted into pain.

And then it was over.

"Hello, Liz."

The cool voice sent shivers down Liz's spine and she spun around to stare in disbelief. She had heard Alex's warning and knew that Courtney was here, but somehow she hadn't expected to see her in the compound. Her anger overcame everything else she was feeling, and she lifted her hand and sent Courtney flying.

They were in a long hallway, separated from most of the fighting, and Courtney smashed into the opposite wall and slid to the floor, surprise on her features.

Liz looked down at her hand in shock. There were sparks of green light dancing around her fingers and she felt an energy crackling underneath her skin, filling her entire body with heat. It was feeding on her rage and her fury.

"Liz!"

Max looked back at her, his mouth falling open. Isabel was still unconscious in his arms, and his gaze was jumping back and forth between Liz and her sudden increase in power and Courtney sprawled on the opposite side of the hall.

The blonde lifted an eyebrow and smirked at Liz. "Well… that was unexpected."

"What are you doing here?" Liz demanded.

"I'm fighting," Courtney replied coolly. "Or have you not noticed that we're at war?"

"You're not on our side," Max spat.

"I want Khivar dead. You want Khivar dead. The enemy of my enemy…"

"How did you know we were fighting now?" Max demanded. "Have you been watching us? How did you know to go to Alex and ask where we were?"

"Hardly," Courtney said. "I was able to regain Khivar's trust, at least somewhat. Not enough that he would tell me where this battle was, but enough that I knew approximately when it was to happen. I'm happy I didn't miss it."

"How did you gain Khivar's trust? Who did you have to betray besides us?"

"No one you'd care about, I assure you," Courtney answered with an icy smile. Liz glared at her, and Courtney laughed lightly and continued, "So I may have implied that I'd killed Nasedo. Well… it hardly makes a difference. Khivar has him, so he's of no threat to you anymore. Now…" Her eyes moved past Liz and settled on Isabel's still form, "You have a Princess to heal, two other Royals to find, and a skin king to kill. I suggest you focus on that."

And without waiting for a response, she turned and hurried away from them, towards the battle happening in the room beyond.

"Liz, lock the door," Max said tensely. They had taken refuse in one of the many small rooms attached to the long hallway. It wasn't safe to stay here for too long. Ahab had explained that they needed to avoid these rooms because there was only one entrance and exit to them, which meant it would be easy to get cornered.

But it was also the safest place he had at the moment, and he needed that temporary safety to heal Isabel.

He placed his sister on the ground and watched as Liz locked the door. The lock wouldn't do much against the skins, who would no doubt simply blast the door off its hinges if they suspected that Max was here. But he couldn't think about that.

Just like he couldn't think about the fact that Courtney was here, that Nasedo had been alive all this time and they hadn't know it.

Just like he couldn't think about the fact that Liz had blasted the blonde skin, that she had somehow accessed alien powers they didn't realize she even had.

Just like he couldn't think about the fact that Kristalia was dead.

"Isabel," he murmured, "Isabel… come on. Look at me. Look at me."

Isabel moaned and her eyelids flickered, but her eyes did not open. He reached out and took her hand, linking their fingers, trying to push his own strength into her. He had no idea exactly what he was doing or how he was doing it, but the warmth in his hands steadily increased.

Isabel opened her eyes.

They were clouded with pain, but they were open and coherent and Max quickly placed on hand on her head and the other on her chest and felt relief wash through him at the familiar surge of his healing power.

After a moment, Isabel started coughing. Then she rolled over onto her side and crawled to her hands and knees. "I'm okay," she murmured, blinking rapidly. "Thanks, I…" Then she paused and trailed off, looking around in confusion. "What happened? Is the battle over?"

"Not at all," Max answered. "You were injured. But you're better now, and we need to find Michael and Tess." He hesitated, knowing what came next, knowing what they really had to do, and not wanting to say it aloud. But there was no denying the inevitable. This was the reason they were here, after all. "And we need to find Khivar."

Liz closed her eyes briefly at those words, and when she looked at him again, he saw his own panic reflected in her gaze.

Isabel struggled to her feet. "Okay," she said. "Okay…"

"Courtney's here," Max added quietly, knowing that he needed to tell Isabel this, that she needed some kind of warning in case she saw the rebel skin.

Isabel stiffened, then nodded. "Alex said she would be," she answered, her voice flat.

Max ran a hand through his hair.

It was too much to even begin to comprehend. Courtney was there, in the battle, and they had no idea what side she was on. Her treatment of Jim and Alex… and Nasedo… made it clear that she cared only about defeating Khivar. So they couldn't trust her, couldn't trust that she wouldn't hurt them without hesitation if it suited her needs. But she also wanted Khivar dead, and so did they, and didn't that make them on the same side?

He couldn't dwell on this now. Courtney was here, and nothing would change that, and he would keep an eye on her if they crossed paths again. He'd kill her if he had to. He already had so much blood on his hands, so many lives lost because of him, so what did it matter if he added one more?

That thought made left him feeling sick, but they were at war, and he didn't have time to think about it.

He unlocked the door and led his sister and his girlfriend back into the hallway.

The entire building was vibrating with the noise and commotion of the battle. It was everywhere, and the air smelled like blood and sweat, and the feeling of nausea in Max's stomach increased.

"Come on," Liz whispered, her voice sounding strangely far away, and pushed past him. They hurried along the hallway in silence, tense and fearful. The avalanche and the fire were both over, and the element of surprise had been used up. Now they were on their own, now they had no more tricks. It would be a battle, a long and arduous fight. There was no other way to end this.

Max stopped suddenly, feeling something pull at the edge of his consciousness. He paused, eyes scanning the hallway quickly, alert and prepared for anything.

Then they all heard it. Footsteps.

Max spun around as the door behind them was blasted open and Michael and Tess emerged from another corridor. Relief washed through the hybrid king to see both of them relatively unscathed. Michael came skidding to a stop as he saw them, his eyes narrowing, focusing on the sight of the blood in Isabel's hair. Tess followed his gaze, and her own expression changed to one of concern.

"I'm fine," Isabel said quickly. "Max healed me."

But the blood was still there, a reminder of how close she had come to dying.

"Then we had better find Khivar," Michael said warily, looking unsure. As though he wanted to tell Isabel to sit this one out, to let someone else handle it. But they didn't have that option, and there was no way to get reprieve from the fighting.

"It's worked so far," Liz said quietly. "Everything we've done… the rocks, the fire…"

"Yes," Tess said unemotionally. "We've succeeded at killing people."

Max blanched and looked away. "So have they," he muttered, thinking of Kristalia. Of her fire-engine red hair and her furious eyes and her fierce disdain for all of them.

And now she was dead.

How many more would follow?

"Let's go," Max said with a sigh and turned away from them, back towards the sounds of the battle. The compound was a labyrinth of corridors, each of them containing rooms where skins could be hiding, waiting to jump out and attack. But they went relatively unnoticed, and the others followed as Max led them through the long hallway and down a staircase into another set of rooms.

It was chaos everywhere.

The doors had been torn off their hinges and cast aside, and the windows shattered. The room was covered in rubble, and there were skins crawling over the broken furniture and piles of rocks, fighting with each other. It was messy and frenzied and everyone seemed to blend together into a writhing mob.

Michael and Tess were both already on the offensive, darting in front of Max and Liz and allowing themselves to be pulled into the fray in order to protect their friends. It was hard to tell ally from enemy in the crushing disarray, and Max knew Khivar wouldn't be here, but they still had to fight.

There were far more people than Max had thought possible, and it was skins fighting skins, and that didn't make any sense until…

"The rebel skins have arrived!" a voice said, and Max whirled around to see Patrick standing there, smiling.

"The rebel skins?" Max breathed. "You mean… Courtney brought her faction?"

Patrick looked at him, blinking in confusion. "The Lady Courtney is here?" he asked, bewildered. "No, she did not bring them. Ahab called them." A pause, then… "He didn't tell you?"

"No," Max said, but he didn't bother wondering about it. He would express his own outrage at Ahab for not telling him about this part of the plan, but that would happen later, and Ahab would no doubt have a response. Probably that he didn't think Max could be impartial, that he wasn't willing to trust people even if they could help him.

Well, he wasn't willing to trust the rebel skins. They might not all be like Courtney, but he wasn't taking any chances.

Then the crowd came tumbling towards him, and he was pulled into the fighting again.