[u]Part 46[/u]
[b]Antar - Six months later[/b]
"The king will see you now."
Max raised his head, stared at the guard in disbelief. The tall being was truly addressing him - in halting English, yes, but addressing him nonetheless. It had been so long since he had heard a voice, [I]any[/I] voice, it took him a moment to even understand. "Pardon me?"
The guard continued to stare at him, his expression emotionless, as was always the case with these creatures, although Max was quite sure he had detected flashes of sympathy from some of them on occasion.
"King Zan will see you."
Max stood, narrowed his eyes. "What? Why now?"
"I do not speak for my king," the guard replied quietly, turning away. "Please come."
It spoke volumes that he had not been shackled. Had the king finally believed that he was who he said he was?
"Wait! Where are my sister and brother?" Max hurried through the cell door after the guard, not daring to hope for more answers, but trying for them anyway.
"Max!"
He whirled, his heart leaping with joy at the sight of Isabel, who was just emerging from another door further down the long white corridor.
"Bella!"
Moments later she was in his arms, sobbing. "I am so happy to see you!"
He pulled away slightly, stared into her face. "Are you well? Have they hurt you?"
"No." Isabel shook her head quickly, setting her long braids dancing. "But I have been so scared, so alone. I did not know what had happened to you or Michael!"
Max hugged her again. "Nor I you." Since his sister and brother had been wrenched away from him upon their landing so long ago, he had been half- convinced that they had been killed. He could think of no other reason for why his guards had been so reticent about telling him where they were.
"Why do they finally want to see us?" Isabel whispered. She was gripping his hand firmly, following Max's guard towards a doorway at the far end of the hall, the guards having grown impatient with their reunion and gently prodded them into movement again. Isabel's guard fell in behind them. "I was sure that they just wanted us to rot away down here."
"We will know soon enough," Max replied, squeezing her hand.
It had come as a great shock to learn after they had been taken off their ship that King Zan of Antar already existed - that he was, in fact, presently sitting on Antar's throne. Just as he had done for the past thirty generations.
Needless to say, the guards confronting them upon landing had not been particularly ready to believe him when he had claimed to be King Zan too.
It seemed that the throne of Antar had never been usurped, although that was all Max had been able to learn before he was thrown into solitary confinement. Why Max had been told by Lord Edmund that he was the king, he still did not know. Nor did he know who he really was, in Antarian terms, if he was not King Zan.
But, in the end, he did not particularly care. At heart he had always been Maxwell DeHarding and Max was the only person he had ever wanted to be anyway.
All that mattered to him, finally, was getting back to Earth and every day he had spent in his cell had been sheer torture. He knew that his child was close to his birth now, if everything had progressed normally. He had tried not to think about Liz and how she might be faring. It was simply too painful and would have resulted in him giving up altogether.
Even if he was no longer king and his child was no longer his heir, his son needed him and he would [I]not[/I] give up.
"Max, I am frightened," Isabel told him softly as they paused in front of a pair of double doors engraved with the symbol of the whirlwind galaxy - the symbol he had always believed was the sign of his house, his family. He knew now that he had left behind his only family on Earth.
"I am too Bella," Max said. "But it will soon be over. We will either go home or we will die. All I know is that I cannot bear another day in that cell."
Isabel's eyes widened, but she finally nodded. "Do you think they will let us go?" She paused, lowered her gaze. "Max, what if they won't? What if we can never get back to them?"
Max swallowed, raised his chin and stared at the double doors. "We will," he stated firmly.
The doors swung open. Max felt the tremor that ran through his sister's body as the huge, darkened room on the other side appeared.
Max and Isabel stepped through slowly. Max felt his eyes attempting to adjust to the dim interior.
"Come forward."
The voice was feminine and commanding. It was, however, not unkind. It reminded Max briefly of his audience with Queen Eleanor back on Earth. He only hoped that this interview turned out as well as that one had.
Max gently tugged on Isabel's hand, pulling her after him as he strode purposefully towards the dais at the far end of the hall. Beings dressed in long robes lined the path, all staring at them as though they were freakish curiosities on display at the Nottingham market. Which, of course, here, they were.
They were stopped ten feet from the dais by the sight of Michael in front of them, kneeling, his head bowed.
"Michael!" Max exclaimed, as Isabel gasped.
Max's brother turned his head slightly and urged through clenched teeth, "Get it over with Maxwell."
"Get what over." Max did not have a chance to finish speaking before he felt a weapon thrust at the back of his knees, effectively dropping him to the floor.
"I tried to warn you," Michael muttered, although he sounded slightly amused, rather than angry. "Just keep your eyes down. They're not crazy about us looking them right in the face."
"Silence!"
Max raised his head in spite of Michael's warning and found himself staring into large dark eyes. He felt his own gaze widen. Because, in spite of the fact that he was staring at a being with a completely different visage, who was tall and grey-skinned and dressed simply in a long white robe, he [I]knew[/I] those eyes.
He felt like he was staring into his own soul. Because, to a certain degree, he was.
And, finally, he understood.
He was still a clone, he was [I]still[/I] Zan of Antar. The only mistake that he had made was in believing that he was the only one who could claim that name.
He could see from the slight narrowing of King Zan's eyes that the other Zan knew it as well.
Finally, after what seemed to be the longest pause Max had ever endured, the king spoke. "I am sorry that it has taken so long for me to see you." He paused again. "My advisors have warned me I should not, but I think I know myself well enough to know that I will find no threat in you." Zan sounded amused.
"Let me wager a guess," Max suggested quietly. "Rath?"
Zan's eyes sparkled as he nodded, "I see that you have experienced it as well." He glanced at Michael, his gaze narrowing. "He may not look the same, but it is clear that he is the same man." Another pause, and then, "A good man."
Max saw movement to Zan's right. Another tall alien seemed on the verge of exploding, but was obviously making every attempt not to do so in public. A lovely, willowy being, possibly female, although it was hard to tell, had a slender hand on his arm, which seemed to be calming him down.
Vilandra.
Max nudged Isabel lightly. His sister's sharp intake of breath indicated that she understood.
"Where is Ava?" Max asked, deciding that directness was the best route to take. They did not have any more time to waste and the more answers they got immediately, the sooner he could formulate a plan as to how to convince his other self to return them to their real home.
"Ava?"
"Your wife," Max elaborated, although the words were enough to choke him. He would be a happy man when he never had to think of Tess in such a way again.
"I have no wife," Zan replied. "There is no need. Through the cloning process I am my own heir. A wife would be redundant, nor do I have time for one."
"My brother is married to his planet." Max recognized the female voice as that of the woman who had first beckoned he and Isabel forward and it was indeed from the woman standing near Rath.
"Rath and Vilandra choose their own path," Zan said, apparently annoyed at his sister's barely veiled dig. He ran his gaze over Isabel and Michael, his curiosity evident. "Although I have learned that they do not always choose the same destiny. None of us do. Perhaps in some future lifetime I will find a mate I will feel is worth the effort." He looked directly at Max. Max wondered if he knew about Liz and the others. He certainly seemed to be implying that he did.
Max glanced at Isabel, who seemed just as confused as he felt.
"I can see your bewilderment," Zan continued, his tone kind. "It is understandable, given what your false guardian told you."
"So he was not truly our guardian?" This came from Michael, who had obviously been attempting to let Max do the talking, but could not stop himself from speaking any longer.
"No," Zan replied. "From what we have been able to discern through our investigation on the planet to which you were sent, the man who stole you from us intended for you to believe his lies so that when he returned with you to Antar you would be firmly under his control. He was a member of a rebellious sect that our loyal followers wiped out years ago."
"We were stolen?" Max demanded, trying to understand exactly how far back Lord Edmund's crimes extended.
"Yes," Zan acknowledged. "We are always cloned in our seventeenth year so that by the time we are ready to die, our replacements will be trained and ready to take over the government. Your pods were stolen from their nursery over twenty solar years ago."
"Why are we more human than anything else?" Isabel asked, obviously now feeling she could speak as well.
"Your false guardian injected your cloning pod with human DNA so that you would be able to blend in more effectively on your new planet. He eradicated your ability to shapeshift, likely believing that he would be able to dominate you more firmly without that gift. He also cloned his own daughter with human DNA and likely intended for you to marry her to even further solidify his power over you." Zan sounded sad as he said, "I am afraid that we were forced to replace your pods. We could not jeopardize the line of succession. Nor could we depend that you would be at all useful to us if we found you. Your minds might have been corrupted. It is why we have kept you locked up until we were able to guarantee that you were not dangerous."
The mention of the line of succession made Max think instantly of his son and Zan's further comments seemed to indicate another truth as well. "You have been to Earth since our return."
"Not I," Zan corrected. "But my agents, yes." He stared at Max, long and hard. "You are wondering what has become of your wife."
Max swallowed, closed his eyes. "Yes."
"I will tell you," Zan replied. "But first I must know where your intentions now lie. You are no longer my heir Maxwell of Huntington. I am sorry for it, but it simply cannot be any longer."
Max opened his eyes and stated firmly, "I would have ruled had the planet required it, but I see now that we are not needed." He paused, then admitted, "I cannot deny that I am glad of it."
Zan's expression softened. He did not address Max, but his own sister instead as he said, "You see Vilandra. Apparently there is a facet of me capable of loving another being more than my throne." His eyes met Max's again. "I am glad that you found our soulmate Maxwell." He paused again, then, for the first time, truly smiled. "Your Elizabeth yet lives."
Max heaved a sigh of relief. It was good to have it confirmed, although breathing and [I]living[/I] were still two completely different things.
"I do not think that he truly understands my brother." Vilandra stepped forward, addressing Max directly for the first time. "You gave your bride a pendant, did you not?"
Max frowned, unsure how she knew this, but nodding in the affirmative.
"Did you not know what that was?" Vilandra asked.
Max shrugged. "I was always told it was meant for my bride and so I gave it to Liz."
Vilandra shook her graceful head. "No Maxwell. It was the royal seal, marking you as Zan's heir. Your traitorous guardian stole it when he stole you and intended to use it to solidify your claim to the throne when he brought you back. By giving it to your young lady, you chose her over your kingdom."
"I don't understand. Why does that matter? I did not know what it was and so it should not be significant."
"But it is," Zan said. "Our clones have always known their roles instinctively. Whether you understood intellectually what you were doing or not, your essence knew. You changed your destiny with that one act and, thus, you changed that of your chosen mate as well."
"Are you telling me that had I not given Liz that pendant, she would have died?" Max demanded, feeling sick, the near miss being so frightening, he almost could not contemplate it.
"Yes. You changed your path with the act of choosing her and, so, she was reborn." Vilandra reached behind her and took Rath's hand in her own. "It was your heart that led you, which reinforces what you have always known my beloved Zan. Following your heart will always bring you to your true destiny."
Max looked at the king, who seemed to understand his sister's words far better than Max could ever hope to. Had the other Zan once had to make a similar choice - and had he chosen wrong?
Silence reigned for several long moments as Max and Zan continued to stare at each other, as though trying to understand the life decision the other had made. Finally, Zan said, "Are you displeased with your choice? Would you change your mind, had you the chance?"
"Never."
"I thought not." Zan's deep voice was almost wistful, making Max feel a flash of pity for this incarnation of himself who would never know love.
Max smiled slightly. A choice between Liz and anything else was no choice at all. "I want to go back."
"Very well then. We will not meet again. Return to where you belong with my blessing. Go home Maxwell of Huntington and live the life you have chosen."
To be continued.
[b]Antar - Six months later[/b]
"The king will see you now."
Max raised his head, stared at the guard in disbelief. The tall being was truly addressing him - in halting English, yes, but addressing him nonetheless. It had been so long since he had heard a voice, [I]any[/I] voice, it took him a moment to even understand. "Pardon me?"
The guard continued to stare at him, his expression emotionless, as was always the case with these creatures, although Max was quite sure he had detected flashes of sympathy from some of them on occasion.
"King Zan will see you."
Max stood, narrowed his eyes. "What? Why now?"
"I do not speak for my king," the guard replied quietly, turning away. "Please come."
It spoke volumes that he had not been shackled. Had the king finally believed that he was who he said he was?
"Wait! Where are my sister and brother?" Max hurried through the cell door after the guard, not daring to hope for more answers, but trying for them anyway.
"Max!"
He whirled, his heart leaping with joy at the sight of Isabel, who was just emerging from another door further down the long white corridor.
"Bella!"
Moments later she was in his arms, sobbing. "I am so happy to see you!"
He pulled away slightly, stared into her face. "Are you well? Have they hurt you?"
"No." Isabel shook her head quickly, setting her long braids dancing. "But I have been so scared, so alone. I did not know what had happened to you or Michael!"
Max hugged her again. "Nor I you." Since his sister and brother had been wrenched away from him upon their landing so long ago, he had been half- convinced that they had been killed. He could think of no other reason for why his guards had been so reticent about telling him where they were.
"Why do they finally want to see us?" Isabel whispered. She was gripping his hand firmly, following Max's guard towards a doorway at the far end of the hall, the guards having grown impatient with their reunion and gently prodded them into movement again. Isabel's guard fell in behind them. "I was sure that they just wanted us to rot away down here."
"We will know soon enough," Max replied, squeezing her hand.
It had come as a great shock to learn after they had been taken off their ship that King Zan of Antar already existed - that he was, in fact, presently sitting on Antar's throne. Just as he had done for the past thirty generations.
Needless to say, the guards confronting them upon landing had not been particularly ready to believe him when he had claimed to be King Zan too.
It seemed that the throne of Antar had never been usurped, although that was all Max had been able to learn before he was thrown into solitary confinement. Why Max had been told by Lord Edmund that he was the king, he still did not know. Nor did he know who he really was, in Antarian terms, if he was not King Zan.
But, in the end, he did not particularly care. At heart he had always been Maxwell DeHarding and Max was the only person he had ever wanted to be anyway.
All that mattered to him, finally, was getting back to Earth and every day he had spent in his cell had been sheer torture. He knew that his child was close to his birth now, if everything had progressed normally. He had tried not to think about Liz and how she might be faring. It was simply too painful and would have resulted in him giving up altogether.
Even if he was no longer king and his child was no longer his heir, his son needed him and he would [I]not[/I] give up.
"Max, I am frightened," Isabel told him softly as they paused in front of a pair of double doors engraved with the symbol of the whirlwind galaxy - the symbol he had always believed was the sign of his house, his family. He knew now that he had left behind his only family on Earth.
"I am too Bella," Max said. "But it will soon be over. We will either go home or we will die. All I know is that I cannot bear another day in that cell."
Isabel's eyes widened, but she finally nodded. "Do you think they will let us go?" She paused, lowered her gaze. "Max, what if they won't? What if we can never get back to them?"
Max swallowed, raised his chin and stared at the double doors. "We will," he stated firmly.
The doors swung open. Max felt the tremor that ran through his sister's body as the huge, darkened room on the other side appeared.
Max and Isabel stepped through slowly. Max felt his eyes attempting to adjust to the dim interior.
"Come forward."
The voice was feminine and commanding. It was, however, not unkind. It reminded Max briefly of his audience with Queen Eleanor back on Earth. He only hoped that this interview turned out as well as that one had.
Max gently tugged on Isabel's hand, pulling her after him as he strode purposefully towards the dais at the far end of the hall. Beings dressed in long robes lined the path, all staring at them as though they were freakish curiosities on display at the Nottingham market. Which, of course, here, they were.
They were stopped ten feet from the dais by the sight of Michael in front of them, kneeling, his head bowed.
"Michael!" Max exclaimed, as Isabel gasped.
Max's brother turned his head slightly and urged through clenched teeth, "Get it over with Maxwell."
"Get what over." Max did not have a chance to finish speaking before he felt a weapon thrust at the back of his knees, effectively dropping him to the floor.
"I tried to warn you," Michael muttered, although he sounded slightly amused, rather than angry. "Just keep your eyes down. They're not crazy about us looking them right in the face."
"Silence!"
Max raised his head in spite of Michael's warning and found himself staring into large dark eyes. He felt his own gaze widen. Because, in spite of the fact that he was staring at a being with a completely different visage, who was tall and grey-skinned and dressed simply in a long white robe, he [I]knew[/I] those eyes.
He felt like he was staring into his own soul. Because, to a certain degree, he was.
And, finally, he understood.
He was still a clone, he was [I]still[/I] Zan of Antar. The only mistake that he had made was in believing that he was the only one who could claim that name.
He could see from the slight narrowing of King Zan's eyes that the other Zan knew it as well.
Finally, after what seemed to be the longest pause Max had ever endured, the king spoke. "I am sorry that it has taken so long for me to see you." He paused again. "My advisors have warned me I should not, but I think I know myself well enough to know that I will find no threat in you." Zan sounded amused.
"Let me wager a guess," Max suggested quietly. "Rath?"
Zan's eyes sparkled as he nodded, "I see that you have experienced it as well." He glanced at Michael, his gaze narrowing. "He may not look the same, but it is clear that he is the same man." Another pause, and then, "A good man."
Max saw movement to Zan's right. Another tall alien seemed on the verge of exploding, but was obviously making every attempt not to do so in public. A lovely, willowy being, possibly female, although it was hard to tell, had a slender hand on his arm, which seemed to be calming him down.
Vilandra.
Max nudged Isabel lightly. His sister's sharp intake of breath indicated that she understood.
"Where is Ava?" Max asked, deciding that directness was the best route to take. They did not have any more time to waste and the more answers they got immediately, the sooner he could formulate a plan as to how to convince his other self to return them to their real home.
"Ava?"
"Your wife," Max elaborated, although the words were enough to choke him. He would be a happy man when he never had to think of Tess in such a way again.
"I have no wife," Zan replied. "There is no need. Through the cloning process I am my own heir. A wife would be redundant, nor do I have time for one."
"My brother is married to his planet." Max recognized the female voice as that of the woman who had first beckoned he and Isabel forward and it was indeed from the woman standing near Rath.
"Rath and Vilandra choose their own path," Zan said, apparently annoyed at his sister's barely veiled dig. He ran his gaze over Isabel and Michael, his curiosity evident. "Although I have learned that they do not always choose the same destiny. None of us do. Perhaps in some future lifetime I will find a mate I will feel is worth the effort." He looked directly at Max. Max wondered if he knew about Liz and the others. He certainly seemed to be implying that he did.
Max glanced at Isabel, who seemed just as confused as he felt.
"I can see your bewilderment," Zan continued, his tone kind. "It is understandable, given what your false guardian told you."
"So he was not truly our guardian?" This came from Michael, who had obviously been attempting to let Max do the talking, but could not stop himself from speaking any longer.
"No," Zan replied. "From what we have been able to discern through our investigation on the planet to which you were sent, the man who stole you from us intended for you to believe his lies so that when he returned with you to Antar you would be firmly under his control. He was a member of a rebellious sect that our loyal followers wiped out years ago."
"We were stolen?" Max demanded, trying to understand exactly how far back Lord Edmund's crimes extended.
"Yes," Zan acknowledged. "We are always cloned in our seventeenth year so that by the time we are ready to die, our replacements will be trained and ready to take over the government. Your pods were stolen from their nursery over twenty solar years ago."
"Why are we more human than anything else?" Isabel asked, obviously now feeling she could speak as well.
"Your false guardian injected your cloning pod with human DNA so that you would be able to blend in more effectively on your new planet. He eradicated your ability to shapeshift, likely believing that he would be able to dominate you more firmly without that gift. He also cloned his own daughter with human DNA and likely intended for you to marry her to even further solidify his power over you." Zan sounded sad as he said, "I am afraid that we were forced to replace your pods. We could not jeopardize the line of succession. Nor could we depend that you would be at all useful to us if we found you. Your minds might have been corrupted. It is why we have kept you locked up until we were able to guarantee that you were not dangerous."
The mention of the line of succession made Max think instantly of his son and Zan's further comments seemed to indicate another truth as well. "You have been to Earth since our return."
"Not I," Zan corrected. "But my agents, yes." He stared at Max, long and hard. "You are wondering what has become of your wife."
Max swallowed, closed his eyes. "Yes."
"I will tell you," Zan replied. "But first I must know where your intentions now lie. You are no longer my heir Maxwell of Huntington. I am sorry for it, but it simply cannot be any longer."
Max opened his eyes and stated firmly, "I would have ruled had the planet required it, but I see now that we are not needed." He paused, then admitted, "I cannot deny that I am glad of it."
Zan's expression softened. He did not address Max, but his own sister instead as he said, "You see Vilandra. Apparently there is a facet of me capable of loving another being more than my throne." His eyes met Max's again. "I am glad that you found our soulmate Maxwell." He paused again, then, for the first time, truly smiled. "Your Elizabeth yet lives."
Max heaved a sigh of relief. It was good to have it confirmed, although breathing and [I]living[/I] were still two completely different things.
"I do not think that he truly understands my brother." Vilandra stepped forward, addressing Max directly for the first time. "You gave your bride a pendant, did you not?"
Max frowned, unsure how she knew this, but nodding in the affirmative.
"Did you not know what that was?" Vilandra asked.
Max shrugged. "I was always told it was meant for my bride and so I gave it to Liz."
Vilandra shook her graceful head. "No Maxwell. It was the royal seal, marking you as Zan's heir. Your traitorous guardian stole it when he stole you and intended to use it to solidify your claim to the throne when he brought you back. By giving it to your young lady, you chose her over your kingdom."
"I don't understand. Why does that matter? I did not know what it was and so it should not be significant."
"But it is," Zan said. "Our clones have always known their roles instinctively. Whether you understood intellectually what you were doing or not, your essence knew. You changed your destiny with that one act and, thus, you changed that of your chosen mate as well."
"Are you telling me that had I not given Liz that pendant, she would have died?" Max demanded, feeling sick, the near miss being so frightening, he almost could not contemplate it.
"Yes. You changed your path with the act of choosing her and, so, she was reborn." Vilandra reached behind her and took Rath's hand in her own. "It was your heart that led you, which reinforces what you have always known my beloved Zan. Following your heart will always bring you to your true destiny."
Max looked at the king, who seemed to understand his sister's words far better than Max could ever hope to. Had the other Zan once had to make a similar choice - and had he chosen wrong?
Silence reigned for several long moments as Max and Zan continued to stare at each other, as though trying to understand the life decision the other had made. Finally, Zan said, "Are you displeased with your choice? Would you change your mind, had you the chance?"
"Never."
"I thought not." Zan's deep voice was almost wistful, making Max feel a flash of pity for this incarnation of himself who would never know love.
Max smiled slightly. A choice between Liz and anything else was no choice at all. "I want to go back."
"Very well then. We will not meet again. Return to where you belong with my blessing. Go home Maxwell of Huntington and live the life you have chosen."
To be continued.