Chapter Thirty – Three – Make love, AND war

The next morning, the student dining area was awash with quiet conversations. Students were huddled in groups examining small pieces of paper. Max listened to the various bits of conversation he overheard as he made his way to his table.

"Do you think it's true?" one person asked.

"It can't be. I mean, everyone saw the bodies," said another.

Max sat down at his table, and looked across the room at Michael who was blatantly eavesdropping on a group of students behind him. Zan sat down next to Max, and smiled. "Look, they're everywhere." He passed Max a small square of paper that had a silver hand print on it and the words Long Live King Zan. "That Maria is pretty smart," he said. "I wouldn't have expected this to work in a million years."
"Who would have thought that something so simple would get everyone talking?" asked Zan.

"I know," said Max. "I can't wait to see what it's like at the market area today. "General Kobodi said we were going to be patrolling there today. Let's hope he hasn't checked it out first."

An alarm rang throughout the student dining area, and those training for the Aberjani stood, and exited the room. They assembled in a small instruction room near the front of the Training Academy.

"Today," said General Kobodi. "We will patrol the market area. Yesterday, there was an incident. I want no such incident to occur, ever again. Am I understood?"

A hand went up among the warriors, and a voice called out. "General, how can we prevent such an incident from happening if we do not know what it is?"

General Kobodi strode over to the speaker and punched him in the mouth. "Silence!" he shouted. "An Aberjani doesn't question. He or she simply does what they are instructed to do! Is that clear!"

"Yes, General Kobodi," chanted the trainees. The General turned, and signaled for them to walk out of the room. Most of them stepped over their fallen companion, but Max and Zan watched in horror as the General stepped right on him and continued out of the room. Max bent down to heal the warrior, but Zan grabbed him and pulled him out of the room.

"Are you crazy?" he asked. "Do that and it will be like pointing an arrow in our direction."

"Isn't that what we want to do?" Max asked. "Let them know we're here!"

"Yeah, but this is too obvious," said Zan, propelling Max out the door. "We'd be caught for sure. Damn, you are too soft hearted," he continued. "I get wanting to help him, but not at the expense of my neck, thank you very much."

Max jerked his arm away from Zan, and stormed out of the room. He was angry. Angry at what General Kobodi had done, angry at his inability to help the other warrior, and angriest of all at Zan for being right. He and Zan quickly caught up with the rest of the warriors, and began the march to the market area of the city. The Antarian sun rose up above the horizon, burning of the mist that had settled on the city during the night. Max looked around, eagerly, anxious to observe as much about the city as he could.

It could be almost any city on Earth, with the exception of the lack of personal vehicles. He searched his memory, and found that vehicular traffic had been banned from all cities as a way of preserving the environment. Zan nudged his side, and pointed surreptitiously at the palace that rose up from the center of the city. The morning sun touched upon the spires of the palace, and he watched as a flag was unfurled. It had a red background, and Max fully expected to see the planets that comprised the Royal Seal on it, but instead it carried a symbol he didn't immediately recognize.

"That's Kivar's family crest," Zan whispered. Max looked back into his memory, and knew that Zan was correct. Kivar was trying to eradicate anything that spoke of the royal family, and that included the flag of Antar that had flown over the palace for countless millennia.

They walked on, both lost in thought, until a roar from General Kobodi shook both he and Zan from their respective reveries. Max looked up, and saw the market area covered in graffiti, proclaiming Zan as the real King of Antar. Another cried that Antarians should rid themselves of the pretender. Max smothered a grin. Liz, who had recently read a history of the kings of England, had thought up that particular slogan.

"I want these taken down before the market opens!" shouted Kobodi. "You!" he pointed at on of the senior Aberjani. "Go to the palace, and inform Lord Kivar of what has happened. The rest of you, begin removing this vile filth!"

Max and Zan split up, and Max found himself working next to Kyle. The two pulled down signs very slowly, as the market came alive. Voices whispered in hushed tones. A few workers came over and began to remove the signs. Kyle nudged Max, and he saw that instead of pulling the signs down and destroying them, they took them down carefully, and tried to hide them from the Aberjani.

A sudden roar of support from the crowd caught them unaware, and they looked around to see what had caused the outburst. Max saw it first and grabbed Kyle and pointed upward. Kyle looked to where Max was pointing and smiled. A large bed sheet with a silver handprint was flying from the top of a tall tree. "You can thank Zan and yours truly for that," he said.

"Well, it does explain why Zan wouldn't let me heal that kid that Kobodi punched and then stepped on," said Max. "Seriously, though, do you think this is going to do any good? I mean, I love Maria and all, but she's not usually the one to come up with the plans."

"It's a good plan, Max," Kyle said. "Look around you, look at the people. They look hopeful. They want to believe it. They NEED to believe it. They want their king back."

"Yeah, but Kyle, I can't stay here and rule. I have a life on Earth, and I can't ask Liz to give that up. She's lost so much because of me already." Max silently thought back to all the losses Liz had suffered, especially the loss of their child. "I can't expect her to give up her life to live here."

"Look Max, I think you're kind of putting the cart before the horse, you know? We're here, we put up a few signs, that's it. You're a long way from taking back the throne," Kyle said."

"Aberjani!" shouted General Kobodi. "Citizens of Antar. Your Lord Kivar is here to address you!"

Max turned in the direction of General Kobodi's voice. He was standing on a low rooftop, and next to him was a man who made his blood boil. Max didn't realize he was capable of such feelings of rage. Anger stirred deep inside some primordial part of him. Without realizing it, he stepped forward and raised his arm, stopping only when Kyle grabbed him and wrenched his arm back down.

"Good people of Antar!" said Kivar. "Do not allow yourself to be taken in by those wishing to bring evil back to our world. We fought against the tyranny of the royal family. Finally we are free from a world of oppression!" Max shuddered as he felt Kivar's mind warp. It was worse than anything Tess had ever tried. It was insidious, and evil, pressing at the edges of his mind, trying to take hold.

"Long live Lord Kivar!" shouted Max. Kyle whipped his head around and looked at him in shock, then carried on the chant.

"Long live Lord Kivar! Long live Lord Kivar!" It galled Kyle to even say the words, but he knew why Max had done it. It was the one thing that would keep suspicion off of them. As he chanted, Kyle looked around. The Aberjani had taken up the cry, but many of the citizens of Antar looked like they were only paying lip service to Kivar.

"I command you to remove this filth from our city!" shouted Kivar. "We will find those who have perpetrated such a heinous crime. Keep your eyes and ears opened my people. Riches will abound for any who can assist in the capture of the criminals who did this to our city!"

"All hail Lord Kivar," came the shout. Max looked over and saw that this time Michael had started the chant. The Aberjani pushed forward and continued to rip down the signs that covered the market area. Max watched as Zan scaled the tree and tore down the flag he and Kyle had made only hours earlier. Max watched has Zan violently ripped the makeshift flag in half and threw it to the crowd. He smiled when he saw that an old woman caught the pieces and kissed them before stuffing them into her bag.

"I think I have an idea," he said to Kyle as they removed the last two signs from a stone wall.

"Hold on to that thought for a second," said Kyle. He pressed his hand against the wall, and Long Live King Zan – the True Ruler of Antar! Appeared on the wall in flaming red letters. Another roar went up, and Kyle smiled, and then began to shout. "Get that filth off of the wall! Who dares to betray our leader, Lord Kivar. Long live Lord Kivar!"

"Nice touch," said Max. The crowd began to disperse as the Aberjani pressed forward, trying to find out who had defaced the wall. So, are you ready to listen to my plan?"

"Don't be a baby," said Kyle. "I saw an opportunity and I took it. So go ahead. What's the plan?"

"Platinum, and lots of it. Kivar is laying a heavy mind warp on everybody. I had a hard time throwing it off, even with my ring on. These people don't stand a chance."

"And where do you propose to get all this platinum?" asked Kyle as they lined up in formation. "And more importantly, how do you propose to get it to the people? What are you going to do, go around and propose to everyone you meet? That might make Liz a little cranky."

"Shut up, Kyle. I said it was a plan. I didn't say it was a fully thought out plan," grumbled Max. They began to march back to the Training Academy, while Max tried to figure out a way to get enough platinum jewelry, and how to get it to the people of Antar.

"Well, if you're interested, I kind of had a thought," said Kyle. "We never did figure out what it was about the platinum that blocked the mind warp. I mean, is it one element of it or all the chemicals that make it up all together. I was thinking, if we could figure that out, maybe we could just get that one thing and, I don't know, sprinkle it in the water supply or something."

"Kyle that's a fantastic idea," said Max. "But how? I can't ask Liz to take on anything else. She's 'discovering' pennicilian, and she's working on that whole thing to not get us killed."

"Don't look at me," said Kyle. "Remember, Maria and I were in the same remedial science class for three years. Wait a second, Max. Che'koth must know. Whoever wrote the destiny book knew. I mean, they put it in there. Someone here on Antar has to know how it works. We nee to talk to Che'koth about this."

"See, I knew you'd figure it out, Kyle," Max said with a grin.