The Night The Dreams Died
The Uniter
Chapter 52
LII
Max watched as his younger double sat in solitude on the royal throne, lost in thought, his elbow resting on his knee and his chin resting on the back of his hand. It was a pose that vaguely reminded Max of something he had seen somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.
"Yo, Max. How's our new king doing?"
Max turned around to find Michael standing behind him.
"Your double there looks like that statue in the Dobie Gillis show, what's it called… The Thinker?"
Max looked back at his younger double then back again at Michael.
"Well, doesn't he?"
Max raised his eyebrows. "Dobie Gillis?"
"Yeah… Oh, come on, don't tell me you never saw Dobie Gillis."
Max shook his head. "Is that another one of those prehistoric sitcoms you thrive on?"
"I don't thrive on them… and it's not prehistoric."
"Is it color?"
"No."
"It's prehistoric!"
"You don't have any sense of culture, Max."
Max smiled. "I saw an episode of 'I Dream Of Jeannie' once."
"Ooh!" Michael laughed. "Okay, well, that's cool, I guess. "Those old shows are all classics, Max. They're history."
"Yeah, well, you should know a lot about history, Michael."
Michael winced. The implication of what Max was saying was not lost on him. He had only recently returned from a long and difficult journey into their past, and it had almost ended in disaster.
"Some good things came out of that, too, Max."
Max nodded. "I know. Jeffy for one."
Max rubbed his eyes and shook his head, and Michael swallowed hard, and both of them became misty-eyed at the mention of Max's youngest child.
"You're feelin' it, too, aren't you, Max?"
Max nodded solemnly. Both of them felt it keenly. Liz and Maria were feeling it even more deeply, if that was possible. They all knew that they had been away from home too long. This wasn't just any trip they had embarked on this time. They were in a completely different dimension… who even knew how far away from their children and families. Dimensions aren't measured in miles. They had never done this before. There simply was no way to even get a message back home.
"Come on, Max… Let's see what your double is thinking about so hard."
Michael walked over to the throne and slapped Max's younger double on the back playfully… "Kyrin for your thoughts."
The younger Max looked up, but his look lacked Michael's enthusiasm…
"Kyrin?"
Michael grinned. "Okay, you've only been here at the palace for one day, I guess, so I'll cut you a little slack. It's a coin, and it has your picture on it."
"Really? Why would I want that? Was I like a Caesar or something?"
"I don't think you did it. The royal mint did it on their own."
"Oh… well… is it valuable?"
"It's worth about a penny."
The young Max nodded.
"So what were you thinking about so hard just now?"
"I was just wondering… about, you know, things."
The older Max nodded understandingly. "You can't stand sitting here waiting, can you?"
The younger Max looked up again and sighed. "Yeah. It's not easy. I feel like I should be doing something useful."
"You are," Michael said, "You're occupying the throne."
"Oh, right, well, that'll get me a big butt," Max replied cynically. "I need to be up and around… doing things."
"Well… take a break for awhile then. Even a mother hen takes a break from sitting on her eggs now and then, so I guess you can take one, too. You don't have to sit there forever anyway… just until the other pretenders to the throne see the symbol in the sky and show up to try to knock you off."
"You're not afraid the symbol will disappear if I get up?"
"It won't. Even if you left now, it would stay up there for at least a couple of days. But when those guys get here, they need to see the real king sitting on his throne."
"You think that'll make a difference to them?"
"I doubt it. But we can hope."
Max sighed. "I'm tired of sitting here doing nothing. The sky symbol's not going to go away. I'm going to see what I can do around here. If anyone shows up, just keep them occupied until I'm back on the throne. Play checkers with them or something… Maybe… what's that Antarian game you like… Jaht-Roo?"
The older Max chuckled. "Yeah. I can see that happening!"
But Max knew that his younger double was right. He had to stay active. They all did. There was entirely too much pent up energy and anticipation in all of them to spend any amount of time at all sitting on a throne or being idle.
In a nearby part of the palace, meanwhile, Liz, Maria, Tess, and their doubles were checking out the sleeping accommodations together. Liz opened yet another door and looked around the room then smiled approvingly…
"Ooh! This one's even nicer! I like it! I wonder if Max would like the color, though?"
"Why don't you ask him," a voice said. Liz whirled around to find the younger Max, her Max, standing behind her. She threw herself into his arms, and he kissed her for several long moments. Then he let her go, albeit grudgingly.
"I didn't know you were there, Max. You surprised me."
"Good thing it was me, huh? You could have been throwing yourself into someone else's arms."
"Well, I knew it wasn't Maria or Tess… unless their voices got seriously deep and weird all of a sudden."
"Yeah, Liz does know your voice, Max," Tess said, chuckling.
"Okay, but how'd you know I wasn't my double? He sounds just like me."
Liz raised her eyebrows and smiled as though thinking about that question.
Max looked at Maria. Maria shook her head and winked at Liz.
Max looked back at Liz again, and she giggled. "Don't worry, Max. I knew it was you. A girl knows those things. Call it wsp."
"WSP?"
Maria rolled her eyes. "Woman's sensory perception. Follow the clues, Max."
Max nodded. "I like it."
"You like WSP?"
"The color of the room," Max said with a smile. He turned to Liz. "But you pick the one you like, Liz. That'll be the one for us."
"I liked that one two rooms back," Maria said. "If I had my pick, that'd be my choice."
"Then it's yours," Max said. "You want to tell Michael yourself or you want me to?"
"I'll tell him… I mean… I'll see if he likes it, too."
"He will," Max said. "Trust me."
Max looked at Angie Lee.
"I liked all of them," Angie Lee said honestly. "Can we look at the rest of them?"
Liz, Maria, and Tess seconded, "thirded," and "fourthed" Angie Lee's request.
Max nodded and took Liz by the hand, then they turned and walked toward the next room, as the others followed. It was a long walk.
"Well, I'll say this… this certainly isn't like anything on the reservation," Angie Lee mused, as the group walked down the long hallway together. "These rooms are, like, major serious suites!"
"Yeah, it's no Motel 6," Tess agreed, "You're sure not going to hear what's going on in the next room… it's like a mile away!"
Max nodded. "You won't have to worry about the TV being turned up too loud in the next room or some idiot learning to tap dance on the ceiling above you. Privacy here is GUARANTEED."
Max opened the next door, and the girls looked in; and as one, they gave out a collective gasp. Shocked, Max looked past them to see what had caused it. On the other side of the large room, on the bed, sat a little boy with his back to them, looking out the window. The boy turned around and smiled, then he looked straight at Maria. Maria gasped, and her mouth dropped open… "Oh my God!"
Rushing past the others, Maria quickly scooped the boy up into her arms.
"How did… where… When did you…? Let me look at you! It really is you! How…?"
"That's Kryys," the younger Liz said, recognizing the boy. "He's Maria and Michael's youngest son… from their dimension. I met him when I was… well… I met him once."
By this time, the older Liz, from the other dimension, was at Maria's side with her, as Maria smothered her youngest son with kisses.
"Kryys, where did you come from?" Liz asked.
"Home," Kryys answered simply.
"But how did you get here? I didn't know you could go through dimensions."
"It's all part of the river of time, Aunt Liz. The Drax showed me the way." Kryys turned back to Maria… "I missed you, Mom."
Maria choked then broke into tears, as she wrapped Kryys tightly in her arms. When she could speak again, she held Kryys' face in her hands and kissed it… "I've missed you, too, Kryys! I've missed you all! I've missed you so much!" Maria wiped tears from both of her eyes and sniffed. "Are Zorel and Jayyd okay?"
Kryys nodded.
"Are they happy? Are they being good? Is Zorel doing his studies?"
Kryys nodded.
"Oh God, Kryys! I'm just… I'm so, so, so, so happy to see you! You just can't know! You can't even imagine!"
The younger Liz sat down on the bed beside her older double and Maria and put her arms around them both, tears rolling from her own eyes now, too… "I'm so, so sorry! I've been so selfish… I never thought about you guys… I've just been thinking about us here in this dimension, and I never thought about how much you must miss your children and families and how much you've sacrificed to come here and help us… help me…" Liz tried to wrap her arms around Kryys, too, then she kissed him on the cheek and smiled… "I'm really glad you came, too, Kryys. Can you stay long?"
Maria looked at Kryys, suddenly interested in the answer to that question, too.
Kryys smiled, almost shyly, and sort of shrugged. "Well, I'll need to go back and tell Zorel and Jayyd and Aunt Kathy and Aunt Jeliya that Mom's okay. But I'm not limited… exactly… in a time way… you know?"
"Well, you can tell them when you get back, then, but at least for a little while, you're going to stay right here with me," Maria said firmly. "You have to talk to your Dad, too. You can't leave without talking to him!"
"I won't," Kryys replied with a broad grin. "I came to see Dad, too."
"Well, he's going to be surprised to see you," Maria said. "Boy, is he going to be surprised!"
"Kryys, how are Jeffy and Alyyx and my girls," the older Liz asked.
"They're fine, Aunt Liz. Aunt Kathy and Aunt Jeliya are taking good care of them all… with my help."
Liz and Maria both laughed, and Maria ran her hand through Kryys' hair then hugged and kissed him again. "I'm sure that's true, sweetheart. I'm sure that's true."
"And Jiba and Drel?" Tess asked nervously.
"They're fine, too, Aunt Tess," Kryys replied. "They miss you and Uncle Rayylar, though."
Tess closed her eyes, and tears ran down her cheeks. She nodded and smiled. "I miss them, too. You'll tell them that when you go back, won't you, Kryys? Tell them I'm gonna be back home soon, and when I am, I'm gonna hug them and kiss them a million times… till they can't stand it anymore and have to beg me to stop."
Kryys nodded. "Sure, Aunt Tess. I'll tell them."
"And mine, too," Liz added.
"I'll tell them, too. I promise."
Liz smiled. If Kryys were any other child, they might have had to remind him several times… and then hope he remembered… but they all knew that Kryys was as good as his word. In some strange way, he truly was all little boy… playing and laughing like any other 7–year-old; but at the same time, Kryys was oddly grown-up… even beyond grown-up… in fact, sometimes, it seemed, almost ancient. That, Liz thought, probably described him best… ancient.
But the little boy sitting in front of them now, as his mom cuddled and hugged him, seemed to belie that description. He was just a smiling 7-year-old… who missed his Mom. Unlike other 7-year-olds, though, Kryys was capable of finding his Mom on the other side of another dimension and going to her. And he didn't need the sphere. Not that it would have done any good if he had had it. The sphere couldn't travel through dimensions. Until now, no one knew that Kryys could.
"Is the Drax-ta-kiya here, too, Kryys," Maria asked, suddenly remembering that Kryys had mentioned the ancient seer of Jeroglasst, who had become Kryys' mentor after his special abilities were discovered.
Kryys smiled then shook his head. "No. He showed me the way, but he stayed there. He said my abilities are greater than his… he just shows me the way now. But I think he can do anything he wants to do really."
Maria nodded. "You're probably right, Kryys… You're probably right."
"But Uncle Kyle is here," Kryys added, almost as an afterthought.
"Kyle? He's here?" Liz and Maria both exclaimed at the same time. "How?"
"He said he wanted to come with me, and he asked if that was possible. I told him sure. It's not really hard. I took Uncle Max and Aunt Liz to see Jeffy before he came home, Mom… remember?"
Maria nodded. "Yeah, but… that was in the same dimension. Where is Uncle Kyle?"
"He went to look for Dad and Uncle Max."
"Well," the younger Max said, reaching out to offer Kryys a "manly" handshake, "Welcome to the palace, Kryys. Why don't we all go find your Dad and the others. They're going to be verrrry surprised to see you."
Kryys smiled and stood up, then Max led the way out the door and back down the long hall, as the others followed. Reaching the end of the hall after a several-minute walk, Max rounded the corner but stopped suddenly and backed up, holding out his hand to stop the others.
"What is it," Liz whispered.
"I don't know. There's someone in the grand foyer… I don't know them."
Max peered around the corner again stealthily. Alex from the other dimension was talking to someone… in Antarian. Actually, it was more than just "someone." It was a lot of "someones." It was impossible to tell for sure how many men were in the grand foyer with Alex, but it was more than a dozen. Not having learned Antarian yet, the younger Max didn't understand a word of what was being said, but he felt quite certain that it would not be wise to just walk in without evaluating what was going on first.
"How about a game of checkers… I mean, Jaht-Roo," Alex asked one of the men, looking somewhat like a mischievous child who was trying to misdirect his or her parents away from something they weren't supposed to see.
"We're not here to play games. We're here to see the one who's claiming to be the king. We want to see Zan… if he really is Zan."
"He is Zan," Alex replied firmly. "I swear!"
"What are you hiding then? If Zan is sitting on that throne, let us see it for ourselves!"
"He's… uh… busy. He's got a lot of work to attend to. He just got back, you know. A lot of… work… backed up. You know how it is."
The big man stared at Alex coldly, and Alex swallowed, knowing that the man was clearly displeased by the attempts to stall him.
"I think he will take the time to see me. Tell him Kay'lan is here… with his army.
"Kay'lan?"
The big man nodded, pounding his right fist into his left hand impatiently for emphasis…
"That's right… Kay'lan. Zan knows who I am. I was one of his father's generals… before he and Rath took over."
"Oh." Alex winced. "You're not mad at Zan for that, are you?"
The big man shook his head slowly but unconvincingly.
Alex swallowed again. "Is this your army?" He motioned around the room at the dozen or so other men present.
A slow but deliberate smile played over Kay'lan's face, as though he were amused, but not enough so to humor Alex by laughing out loud.
"These are my personal… assistants. Some of my army is outside… about 1,700 men. Should I have brought the rest?"
"No… No…" Alex shook his head emphatically. "That's probably… enough… Yeah, I think that's enough. I know how hard it is to find transportation when you've got a lot of people…"
Kay'lan's eyes seemed to burn through Alex, and Alex gulped silently. He knew he had exhausted Kay'lan's patience and something was going to have to give… probably him… and soon, but Alex was determined not to let Kay'lan into the empty throne room without a fight. Fortunately, he wouldn't have to…
Without warning, the room seemed to suddenly fill up with tiny bright lights that swirled chaotically everywhere they looked. Kay'lan and his men immediately adopted a defensive stance, as they watched the billions of brilliant swirling molecules flow around them in all directions for several moments then begin to come together between them and Alex. As the shining atoms began to coalesce, a small boy appeared, standing in the light. The boy was smiling. Kay'lan stood absolutely motionless, seemingly dumbfounded and clearly unsure exactly how he should react to this totally unexpected occurrence. His "assistants," standing beside and behind him, also appeared not to know what to do.
Then the boy spoke…
"Come… King Zan is waiting. He welcomes you, Kay'lan… and your army." The boy motioned toward the throne room.
"Kryys?" Alex muttered to himself, almost in as great a shock as Kay'lan and his men, who had no idea who Kryys was. Having lived on Antar in the other dimension, Alex knew Kryys well, but seeing him here was just about the last thing he had ever expected.
Suddenly jolted back to the reality of the present, Alex turned to Kay'lan and smiled with a slight shrug. "I guess Zan is ready to see you."
Kay'lan would have scowled at Alex, but his shocked face simply wouldn't form a scowl, so he merely turned and followed the boy into the throne room.
Seated on the throne was Zan, with a young Rath standing at attention beside him.
"Welcome, Kay'lan. It has been a while."
Kay'lan nodded, still clearly in shock. "It has. The throne has accepted you! I saw the sign in the sky, but I thought it was a hoax… I thought… someone had found a way to recreate it. I thought you were dead, Zan."
"Kivar thought so, too," Max said, "but he was wrong."
"It would seem so," Kay'lan agreed. "It really is you. You look… younger… but it's you. I still do not understand how…"
"How is a secret that only I must know for now, Kay'lan. You are a great leader. You will understand."
Kay'lan nodded.
"Will you want to depose me, too, Kaylan… as Kivar sought to?"
Kay'lan swallowed hard, caught off guard by the directness of Zan's question regarding his intentions.
"I… I will have to confer with my advisers, Zan… but I was not a traitor. Will you see me as one?"
Max shook his head. "You were never a traitor, Kay'lan. You sought to unite my kingdom in my absence… by taking it from Kivar, or by taking it after Kivar was gone, as the case may be. That is what I see… if that is what you tell me is the truth."
Kay'lan nodded emphatically. "Yes. That is exactly right. I wanted to unite the kingdom again. You were gone, Zan. I did not know that you were alive. Kivar was a tyrant, it's true, but after he was gone, the kingdom needed unity. Nicholas was strong, but he could not provide unity. I was the reasonable one to provide it… once he was gone."
Max nodded. "And so I will see it… I accept your explanation… if you swear your allegiance to the royal house… and to me again. What of the other groups that wish to take my throne from me, Kay'lan? How many are there?"
"Four… maybe five. They will come, Zan… of this, I am sure. But they are mostly smaller in number. None of them has as many men as I do… and none of them was ever a traitor to the throne… not when you were here. I do NOT believe that they will defy the true king or seek to take the throne now that you are here. My men and I will swear our allegiance to you, Zan… and we will help to defend the kingdom again… if you will allow it."
"I will," Max replied, with a solemn but obviously pleased smile edging over his face. "I believe most of your men were once in my army, Kay'lan… before Kivar took the throne and they joined with you. Perhaps you would honor the kingdom by leading that great army again now… as its general… under Rath. If the other leaders accept, they may be allowed to lead their units, too, as part of the newly-united armies of the Royal House of Antar. As my right-hand man, Rath will be over the combined armies."
Kay'lan actually appeared to smile for the first time, then he dropped onto one knee. "I am honored, your majesty. I swear to you the allegiance of my men and myself."
"Then you are now General Kay'lan of the Royal House of Antar," Max said.
Max knew that he did not need to question Kay'lan's ability to guarantee the allegiance of his own men. Kay'lan was a firm and resourceful leader. He would have their allegiance… and if he swore allegiance to the royal house, his men would follow him resolutely. Zan would earn their trust, too, though he suspected that with many of them, who had known Zan before, he already had it. Like Kay'lan himself, once they knew with certainty that their real king was back, they would swear their allegiance to Zan again of their own choosing.
If Max thought that his work for the day had been accomplished successfully and was over, though, he would have been mistaken. Without warning, the door to the throne room, which was not locked, since there were "guests" present already, opened again abruptly and four men came in, followed by a very flustered and protesting Alex.
"I tried to stop them."
Max nodded. "It's alright."
"Lojo!" Kay'lan exclaimed, seeing their leader. "I should have known you'd show your face sooner or later to try to take over the throne!"
Lojo looked at Zan then at Rath, clearly surprised to actually find them here.
"It looks like I'm not the only one looking to inherit the throne today, Kay'lan. I see you wasted no time getting here yourself."
To be a leader one needs to be first," Kay'lan said unapologetically. "The scenery from behind is always the same, and I do not intend to subject myself to it."
"Gentlemen!" Max said, holding up his hand for silence, "we do not need to disagree anymore. Lojo, welcome. Kay'lan has sworn his allegiance and that of his men to me, and I have made him a general of the Royal House of Antar… in command of the men who serve under him faithfully. If you are a loyal subject of the king and are willing to swear your allegiance and that of your men to me, too, I will offer you and your men the same consideration. If, on the other hand, you choose not to swear allegiance to the Royal House of Antar, I will require that you disband your army and return to a peaceful life with your family. If you will not do that, Kay'lan and his men will consider you as traitors and enemies of the throne, as will I. The choice is yours."
Lojo thought for several moments… "I will be made a general? Like Kay'lan? And I will still lead my men?"
"That is what I am promising. I will make the same offer to the others, too. Those who accept will be generals of the Royal House of Antar, and Rath will be over all the armies."
"General Lojo… of the Royal House of Antar…" Lojo rolled those words over his tongue to see how they sounded, then he nodded.
"I will accept your offer, Zan. I am not a traitor. I came here because I saw the sign in the sky. I believed that Kivar had killed you many years ago, so the only explanation for the sky symbol was that Nicholas had been deposed and someone new had taken over and managed to activate the symbol somehow… or recreated it. In either case, it was… an opportunity. But I was always loyal to you, Zan… you know that."
Max nodded. "Then swear your allegiance, Lojo."
Lojo kneeled on one knee, as Kay'lan had done before him. "I swear my allegiance and that of the 1,200 men I command to you, Zan, and to the Royal House of Antar. You have my most solemn word. We will defend the kingdom with our honor and our blood."
Max smiled. "Then you are now General Lojo of the Royal House of Antar. Rath will take care of coordinating your unit and the others." Max looked at Alex. "Are there any more out there, Alex?"
Alex shook his head.
Max nodded with relief then turned to Kay'lan and Lojo, "Gentlemen… it is a great honor to be back here with you again. I will be seeing a lot more of you both, but you will understand that I have things that must be attended to now."
Kay'lan and Lojo both hurried to dismiss themselves, bowing courteously as they left the throne room. Alex closed the door behind them as they hurried out of the palace to rejoin their armies and spread the word that the king had returned.
Alex looked at Max incredulously.
"What?"
"I didn't know you could speak Antarian, Max. If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd lived here all your life."
Max shrugged. "You speak it… and you're just an earthling. I'm part Antarian. Why shouldn't I speak it?"
Max's "just an earthling" comment was a teasing put-down rather than a serious one, but he waited to see if it would bring Alex to the defense of earthlings everywhere…
Alex wasn't biting… "Yeah, well, I've lived on Antar in my dimension for a lot of years now, Max. I have children there… who speak Antarian. You've been here for what… two days?" Alex looked at Max curiously, and Max smiled…
"Ta'lan… you can come in."
Ta'lan walked into the throne room with Rahn beside her, and Alex began to understand…
"She processed everything you said and everything they said through that speech filter or whatever it is the Ke'cje have so you could understand each other. Very clever, Max. But what will you do when she's not here and they start talking to you? Won't it look suspicious when you just stand there and say, 'duh, huh'?"
Max shrugged. "I'll have to take a crash course in Antarian, I guess. And in the meantime, I'll just be a man of few words."
Alex looked unconvinced.
"Well, Ta'lan and Rahn have agreed to teach me," Max added. "And with her mind push, I can absorb a lot more than I normally would. I can do it."
Alex smiled. "Yeah… I think you probably can."
Max and Alex turned around to look for Michael. He was carrying Kryys on his back…
"Well… he's kind of my son, too. I may have a son just like him someday. He's my double's son, so his double will be my son one day, right? It could be! Come on, Kryys, let's go find your OTHER Dad… and Uncle Kyle." Michael trotted off through the door and down the long hallway with a smiling Kryys clinging to his neck.
Max grinned. "You know, I think Michael's gonna make a pretty good Dad to some kids someday."
Alex nodded.
"He's going to have a heck of a time keeping up with that one, though," Max added.
tbc
Coming up: The Gift Of The Ke'cje