Chapter Thirty-Five – Confrontations
"You bitch," said Shandar. She reached her hand out and slapped Liz squarely across the face. "How did you find out?"
"Hit me again," Liz said, her teeth clenched, "And I will kill you, and don't doubt that I'll do it."
"Liz, stop it, what are you talking about, what baby?" Ava cried, using her hand to restrain Liz. "Zan doesn't have a baby."
"Zan has a baby," Liz said, bitterly. "The only problem is that Zan doesn't know he has a baby, and she's the mother."
"No, this makes no sense," said Ava in denial. "There is no way Zan could have a child and not know about it. It takes two and all that, remember?"
"Not if it's done in a laboratory," said Shandar softly.
"What?" Liz cried. "You did that without his knowledge? How?"
"Wait just one second, your Majesty," said Shandar sarcastically. "I didn't do anything. It was more like I had it done to me, unwillingly. You're precious Zan isn't the only victim in this mess. Maybe you should get the whole story before you start making unfounded accusations." She drew herself up regally and glared at Liz, her eyes shooting sparks of fire in the smaller girl's direction. "I had no say in anything that happened. Do you honestly think I would agree to something as heinous as that?"
"Well, gee, now let me see," Liz said in mock consideration. "Yeah, I guess I'd have to say that I think you would. I mean, you came here under false pretenses and lied to us, so yeah, I guess I would believe you could do something like that."
Ava stared at Liz, astounded at the venom in her friend's voice. She'd seen Liz angry plenty of times, but never like this. She was as angry as if Shandar had carried Max's child. Slowly the realization dawned on Ava. For all intents and purposes, Shandar did carry Max's child, because Max and Zan were created from the same genetic material. Ava looked at Liz, really looked at her, and saw the fear that was hidden beneath the surface anger. This was uncharted territory, and she didn't know how to react, and so she was reacting with anger.
"Liz, you need to step back, right now," Ava said with uncharacteristic firmness. "I know what you're thinking, but stop. It's not Max's baby. Do you hear me, Liz? It's not Max's baby."
Shandar looked at the two girls, her expression a mixture of defiant anger, fear and confusion. She didn't understand what they were talking about. Valrik was her baby, hers and Zan's. She couldn't understand why they were taking about Max.
"Why don't you tell us what happened, Shandar," Ava said. "But before you do that, tell us one thing, is the baby safe? That's what matters right now."
"Yes, Valrik is safe," said Shandar, hanging her head. After a moment, she looked back up, and Liz and Ava were able to see the fear and worry that shown in her eyes. At that moment, Liz's heart went out to Shandar. She remembered the pain she felt for so long at the loss of her own child and she vowed that, no matter how angry she was with Shandar, no matter how duplicitous the woman was, they would keep her child safe.
"Come on," Liz said suddenly, her voice hardened with resolve. "You can tell us what happened on the way."
"On the way where?" asked Shandar.
"On the way to get your baby," answered Liz. "Wherever he is, he isn't as safe as he would be in your arms.
Ava, more familiar with the subterranean enclave, led them through a myriad of passages and out into a dark forest. The sun was just peeing out over the horizon, filling the sky with a rosy glow.
"Which way?" asked Liz, looking around at the unfamiliar terrain. "I have no clue where we are."
"This way," said Shandar, pointing down the hill.
"You also have a story to tell us," Ava reminded her.
"I know," said Shandar. She hated to admit how both Kivar and the Gadori had duped her, but if they were telling the truth about protecting Valrik, she was willing to take the risk. They walked in silence for several minutes while Shandar marshaled her thoughts. After several false starts, she began to speak.
"I honestly didn't know what Kivar had planned," she told Liz and Ava. Gadori scientists, posing as doctors examined Zan after he took the throne. One of the tests the performed was to harvest, um, reproductive material from him. The material was then mixed with eggs they had taken from me, and a fetus was created."
"Why did you let them do that to you?" asked Ava.
"It's not like I knew what they were doing," Shandar said. "Kivar convinced me I was ill, very, very ill, and that the only thing that could help me was this new kind of treatment. I didn't know he was lying; I had all these symptoms. Symptoms I later found out he was causing."
She stopped speaking as they climbed down a particularly treacherous part of the trail. Halfway down, Ava slipped and began to slide precariously down the path. Shandar reacted automatically and fired an energy bolt at a small tree, and it fell in the middle of the trail and stopped Ava's descent.
"Thanks," Ava said, shakily after Liz and Shandar caught up with her. "I didn't think I was ever going to stop."
"God, Ava, please tell me you're all right?" Liz begged. "Kyle will kill Max if anything happens to you."
"What?" asked a thoroughly confused Shandar. "Kyle will Kill Max? Why? Max isn't even here?"
"I never claimed that the friendship between our husbands made any sense," said Liz. "But that's the way it is. Ava," she added, turning to the petite blond. "Do you want to rest here for a while before we continue?"
"Yeah," said Ava, moving about, gingerly. She looked down to a patch on her leg that rubbed raw from her fall, and grimaced. "Liz, can you do anything about this?"
"I'll try," said Liz. "I've been working on my healing, but it's nothing like Max and Zan's." She held her hand over the raw patch on Ava's leg and directed her energy towards the angry red wound. Within seconds, the would was healed, causing both Liz and Ava to stare at it in surprise."
"When'd you learn how to do that?" a shocked Ava asked.
"I didn't," said Liz. "I don't know how I did that, unless…"
"Unless what?" asked Ava. "Don't you dare leave me hanging, or I'll go all Maria on you."
"Before we came here, we tried something with the Granolith. It seems that Kyle's empathic powers can sense the Gadori, so we used the Granolith to try and accelerate that ability in us so we could sense them too. Apparently, it tapped into Max's healing ability and I got that as well."
"You have empath powers?" asked Shandar. "That's how you knew about Valrik, wasn't it?"
"Yeah," said Liz. "Ava showed you the Earth eye candy in the hopes that it would lower your defenses. While you were ogling Brad, I ogled your emotions."
"Very clever," Shandar said, grudgingly. "No wonder you were able to defeat my idiotic brother. He only saw the obvious problems and the obvious solutions. He never bothered to look at all the options." She laughed bitterly. "But then again, I guess I didn't either since you found out my secret."
"Do you want to finish telling us what happened?" asked Liz. She was still very angry with the Antarian girl, but she was trying to understand how Kivar had duped the girl.
"Kivar had his doctors remove eggs from me, under the guise of trying to find out what was wrong with me. In another procedure, the same doctors implanted the fertilized eggs in my. They did something to accelerate the growth process of the fetus, and two months, I gave birth to a son."
"I don't understand," said Ava. "First, why would he go to such lengths to create a child of Zan's? He already had his Vilondra clone to give him a legitimate heir? And after he died, why didn't you just escape?"
"The Gadori," said Shandar. "They formulated this plan with Kivar, and they weren't going to let me go. They knew they needed an heir of the Royal Family to activate the Granolith, and they were unwilling to give up their plans, as you have seen."
"Yeah," said Liz. "We've seen, first hand, the lengths the Gadori are willing to go to win this war. How did you get away?"
"About a month ago, they had a victory celebration. They had managed to send a ship down to your planet. They were planning on eliminating you."
"Obviously, they didn't succeed," Liz said, dryly. "Ava, are you okay to get moving. We shouldn't stay in one place for too long."
Ava nodded her ascent, and the three resumed their journey, while Shandar's tale unfolded.
"I took the opportunity to grab Valrik and run," said Shandar. "I've been looking for a way to find the Royal Family ever since. I didn't know what I was going to do when I found them, but I just thought if I could get Valrik to them, he'd be safe."
"He will be, Shandar," said Ava. "I promise you that. But where is he?"
"I left him with a childhood friend of mine," said Shandar. "One who had no love for my brother. Even as children, she could see how devious he was. I never believed her, and it put a great strain on our friendship. I went to her because I had no where else to go, and she took my son in and vowed to protect him with her life."
"Is it much farther?" asked Liz. "I'd like to get you and him back to safety before too long."
"What are you going to tell Zan and the others?" Shandar asked, her expression worried.
"Nothing," said Liz. "You're going to tell him. Don't worry, Shandar, Zan isn't evil. He'll protect you and your child."
"It's just around the bend," Shandar said, excitedly. She'd only been separated from her young son for a day, but her arms ached to hold him.
The rounded the bend, and stopped and stared in shock at all that remained of the former dwelling. Eddy's of smoke drifted up from the burned out shell, and rubble littered the yard. Shandar stifled a cry and dropped to her knees.
"Wait, I hear something," said Liz. They listened closely and heard the faint wail of a baby coming from the woods.
"Valrik!" Shandar cried. She jumped up and ran into the woods towards the direction of the cry. For several minutes the three searched fruitlessly among the trees trying to locate the infant.
It was Ava who finally located him and gave a triumphant shout. Liz and Shandar rushed over to where she knelt down before a manmade cave. She reached in carefully and removed the child and passed him to Shandar. Shandar grabbed the child and held him close, pressing kisses against his downy head. Ava reached into the opening once more and removed a note and a small bundle.
Liz took the note and opened it and read out loud:
My Dear Friend Shandar, I am sorry I did not believe your tale at first. Please forgive me for ever doubting you. Tralia
A crashing sound in the underbrush alerted them to danger.
"Come on, we have to get out of here," said Liz. She looked around, trying to locate the source of the noise.
Without another word, the three dashed deeper into the woods, trying to avoid detection, only to find that they were walking right into the arms of the approaching troops