Sliding Into Antar

Kivar's Final Vengeance

Chapter 11

XI

Zorel led the group upward along the cushiony path… further and further toward the surface of the bog… but the water only got deeper and deeper as they ascended. Max knew that logically this was not what should be happening. If they were in an air-filled chamber beneath the waters of the bog, then they needed to go through the water to reach the surface. But the water should be above them, not rising beneath them. Kyle had been right. Whatever the secret of the bog was, it took the unassuming innocence of a child… or an animal like the pawgor… to get out.

The water was already up to Max's chest, and he glanced back and saw that several of the shorter individuals were barely able to still walk and keep their heads above water anymore. Max stopped and called out to Zorel, who was in front of him and was swimming now.

"Zorel… what's going on? Are we going to have to swim to get out?"

Zorel laughed and turned toward Max, while treading water. "You don't have to swim. Just duck your head under the water."

"Duck…? Okay… and then what?"

"Just duck your head under the water."

Max held his breath and ducked under the water, but as quickly as his head went under, it popped right back to the surface. Max opened his eyes and wiped the water off of his face then looked around for Zorel. That's when he realized that he was no longer in the underwater chamber. He was on the top… on the real surface… and all around him was the dense, jungle-like Nan-Torel.

But where was everyone else?

For a moment, Max panicked and began reaching into the dark waters all around him for a hand, an arm, any sign of the others who had been with him. He found nothing but water. Alarmed, Max dove head first into the bog…

Ouch! For water that he had sunk straight to the bottom in earlier, it was pretty danged hard on this side of the bog. It felt like it shoved Max right back to the surface. He started to dive again, but a hand touched him…

"Max? Where were you? You disappeared for several moments there," Liz said, with concern evident in her voice. Max looked around. He was once again in the chamber under the bog, up to his chest in water. It didn't make any sense at all.

Michael laughed. "Don't try to figure it out, Max. Like Zorel said, you just have to trust in some things."

"I'm not a blindly trusting person," Max said, wiping the water off his face. "I like to know what I'm trusting in and why I'm trusting in it."

"Yeah, I know. Me, too," Michael confided. "But I think this is challenging my conceptions."

Max nodded. "Yeah."

"What did you see," Liz asked.

"The surface… the trees," Max replied. "If you duck under the water, you pop up on the surface. Don't ask me how. It's gonna drive me crazy for a long time trying to figure it out."

Liz ducked her head under the water… then Maria ducked under. After them, the others, one by one, ducked under, too; and as each one did, he or she disappeared beneath the water and did not return. Finally, only Max and Michael were left.

Max shrugged. "Shall we?"

Michael ducked under the water, and Max followed. When he popped up, he was on the surface again, but this time everyone else was there as well. They were still standing in chest deep water, but instead of being in the underwater chamber, they… or at least their heads… were above the surface.

"I'm assuming that if we walk toward the shore now, we'll walk out of the water?" Max asked Zorel. Zorel nodded, still treading water.

Max started walking toward the shore, and the others followed. As they went, the water got shallower and shallower… until they literally simply walked out of the bog.

"Woo hoo! Land!" Alex yelled, doing a little dance on the shore, with a huge grin on his face.

Max looked around. "I hate to ask what is probably a stupid question… but how are we going to get back to the south side of the bog again? The jungle growth to the east and west looks impassable to me… We can't go around to get back to the path…"

"Wait… Don't tell me! You kids fly! Right?" Max said, smiling at what he clearly intended as a joke.

"No, that's silly," Liz-Jolee said. "We can't fly."

Max chuckled. "Well, that's good to know… I think."

Zorel looked at the surface of the bog for a moment then carefully put one foot on it… Then he put the other foot behind the first one. Then he took another step out onto the water and turned around and smiled.

Max threw up his hands. "Of course! You walk on water! Why didn't I know that?"

The children laughed.

"No, silly," little Jayyd said, taking Max's hand and leading him to the edge where Zorel had stepped off. "There are stepping stones under the water. You just have to look for them."

Max knelt down on one knee and placed his hand on the water. Sure enough… just below the water… not even a quarter of an inch below the surface… there was something hard. It appeared to be about two and a half feet wide and equally as long, but try as Max might, he could not see it. It was black in a black water bog, and it looked exactly like the water. For all practical purposes, it was invisible.

"Do these… stepping stones… go all the way across," Max asked. Jayyd smiled and nodded.

"Come on," Maya said, taking Liz by the hand, "We'll lead you across."

"How do you know where to step," Liz asked, straining to see anything at all in the black water, with no more success than Max had had.

"You can't see the stepping stones," Jayyd replied, "You just have to feel them with your feet."

"And if you miss one?" Maria asked.

Jayyd smiled. "You go to the bottom and start over again."

"Don't miss one," Taz said with a grin.

Liz nodded and looked at Maria, and both of them stepped onto the first stone with Maya. As they proceeded, stepping onto the second stone, Andya and JoLeesa followed them. Then, one by one, the others walked out onto the water, too, most of them being guided by their children. Max and Zorel, meanwhile, were just reaching the other side, and Max stepped onto the ground and turned around to see how everyone else was coming. Slowly, the parents and children inched along followed by the group from the New Granolith… in all, some 40 adults and children. Kyle reached the other side and turned around and looked back, then shook his head in disbelief as he watched the rest of the group cross the bog, each person appearing for all the world to be walking on the water…

"Incredible…"

Soon, everyone was on the south side of the bog, where they had first gone into the water. With everyone safely on the shore, Max turned to look for the path that led back out of the Nan-Torel, but as he walked away from the bog, he froze suddenly in his tracks. Michael moved to the side a couple of steps to see what had made Max stop, and he froze, too.

"Don't anyone move," Michael whispered, standing as still as a Nan-Torel rock tortoise. Not twenty feet in front of him and Max, on the path, was a full-grown male pawgor, saber teeth and all. It stood there, almost chest high to Max and Michael, motionless, its eyes burning into Max and Michael's eyes with a searing heat and intensity.

Despite the discomfort, which was probably psychological, Michael stared directly into the huge cat's eyes, not daring to look away or even to blink. So did Max. The pawgor NEVER blinked, a fact that was disconcerting to both Max and Michael, who wanted badly to blink but couldn't. Their eyes seemed to burn and quickly began to water, but neither dared to move. Both Max and Michael were prepared to raise their hands quickly and blast the pawgor if it moved toward anyone. But what happened next was totally unexpected. Without warning, the pawgor averted its eyes… then it slowly walked forward, dragging its left rear leg, which appeared, now that they saw it, to have been grievously wounded. The pawgor might have been in a fight with another pawgor… or it might have been wounded by a falling tree or attacked by flesh-eating rob-jetta bats as it slept… or any of a million other things that could befall even the mightiest creatures of the always-dangerous Nan-Torel. But today, this pawgor clearly did not intend to fight unless it was provoked. And Max and Michael had no desire to provoke it.

The pawgor walked to the edge of the bog and, without ever looking back, simply laid down and rolled into the water, sinking immediately out of sight in the dark bog. It looked like some kind of strange suicide, but Max and Michael knew better.

"Zorel…" Max called. Zorel came running.

"How long will it take that pawgor to heal… till it comes back out?"

Zorel shrugged. "A few hours, at least… maybe a whole day… I think."

"Good. Let's be gone before it comes back out all fixed up like new and hungry again, okay?"

Everyone was nodding.

"Lead the way," Max said to Zorel. "You kids are the ones who know how to get back out of here." Zorel smiled and hurried off down the trail, and Max and the others followed, leaving the black bog and its mysteries behind them.

They had walked for almost an hour along the trail when Maya suddenly stopped and let out a small cry. Liz immediately rushed to her daughter's side…

"Maya? What's wrong, Honey? Did something happen?"

Maya shook her head. "They're coming back."

"Who's coming back," Liz asked, as Max and Michael gathered around them with the others.

"Kivar… and the shadow shifters. They're coming back."

Liz gasped and looked up at the sky, but the ship was still too far away to see… wherever it was.

"Can I do the mind warp," Jiba asked.

Max looked at the sky and thought about it, but only for a brief moment. Then he nodded to Jiba. "Do it. Let me know if they go away or if they keep coming."

"They always go away," Zorel said. "Jiba scares them."

Max nodded. "I know, but I just have a bad feeling about it this time. Kivar is evil, but he's not stupid. He will figure out that the illusions are only a mind warp eventually… and when he does, he won't go away."

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As Max spoke, half a light year away, in space, a different conversation was taking place…

"Lord Kivar, we are two veskits from Antar. You requested that I let you know when we had reached this point."

"Very good, Bezto."

Kivar waved his hand dismissively at the captain of his shadow shifter minions then walked to the fore window of his ship and stood there, gazing into space, with his hands behind his back. Exactly three minutes later, as expected, Antar came into sight. At the speed the ship was traveling, it took only another two and a half minutes to reach the atmosphere. Kivar nodded and smiled.

"They've begun. They know we're coming, Bezto. Look at my planet… enveloped in dark clouds and electrical storms that would scare off the most fearless of travelers. Actually, I kind of like it, you know, in a way. I wish I could keep the one who is doing this. Her illusions could be… useful."

"You can do that," Bezto said frankly. "I am still not convinced that Dunjin has given you correct information, but if one of the children is creating these… manifestations… why not just take the child and train it as your own. My army and I will eliminate the others."

Kivar sighed. "If it were only so easy, Bezto. These children are not just any children. They're the offspring of Zan and Rath… and the other royals. They will fight together… and die together. I am under no illusions that one can be willingly separated from the others."

"I didn't say that it would have to be willingly, Lord Kivar. Simply take the child. I know you have very effective methods for altering the minds and thoughts of your enemies. I am certain that in no time the child will be calling you father and doing your bidding… quite happily."

"Perhaps," Kivar said, mulling the thought over in his mind. "But it is also possible that she will become a useless shell, her brain burned out by the… methods I use."

"I don't see a problem," Bezto said. "In that case, you simply discard her. You will be no worse off for having tried."

Kivar was silent. Clearly, Bezto's words had caused him to consider the possibility, though he still considered the success of such a gambit a long shot.

"Very well, Bezto. Find the girl. Bring her to me and kill the rest. Dispose of them as you see fit. Some of them are hybridized and may not disintegrate properly."

Bezto nodded and smiled. "It will be as you wish, my lord."

"Take the air skimmer and leave now… Take two… no, three… of your shadow shifters with you. That should be enough to capture one little girl." Kivar stared at Bezto defiantly, as though daring him to contradict him, but Bezto only nodded and smiled. He had no doubt whatsoever that with three of his shadow shifters or alone, he would have no problem at all capturing Jiba and terminating the others. They were, after all, mere children… and an inferior race. To the shadow shifters, all other races were inferior, including Kivar himself, but some exceptions had to be tolerated for expediency.

Bezto left Kivar's presence and immediately departed from the ship with two of his shadow shifters. Two would be more than enough. Of this, he was quite certain. Kivar, meanwhile, remained in front of the window, admiring the fury of Jiba's storms, which increased mightily the closer the ship came to Antar.

"It's about time for some fireworks," Kivar mused aloud, "A few fireballs and maybe some crashing meteors…" As if on cue, several meteors appeared at once, all heading in the direction of Kivar's ship.

"So predictable," Kivar sighed. "I don't know how I was ever fooled by these childish tricks. Where are the fireballs?"

As he looked, fireballs broke off from the meteors and sped toward the ship. But this time, instead of taking evasive action and fleeing as in the past, Kivar stood his ground and smiled. Kor'Voyl, the sub-captain of the shadow shifters, who had just appeared on the bridge, watched, too, somewhat more nervously, and several other shadow shifters standing near the door watched very nervously. Suddenly three of the fireballs struck the ship, causing near panic among the shadow shifters at the door and causing Kor'Voyl to swallow and close his eyes momentarily, but Kivar only smiled. The fireballs passed right through the ship without causing any damage…

"You see, Kor'Voyl? Dunjin was right. It's all illusions. None of it can harm us.

The shadow shifter sub-captain smiled… in the strange way that shadow shifters smiled… but he did smile. At that moment, the first of the three meteors crashed head on into the ship… and disappeared into nothingness. Again, much to Kivar's pleasure, the ship was untouched.

There was nothing that pleased Kivar more than always being right… unless it was always getting his way, but that was almost a given. Always being right was harder.

Within moments, the other two meteors crashed into the ship, too… with the same result… nothing. For a few brief moments, Kivar was almost giddy with the knowledge that he would soon have complete control of Antar, finally and decisively, and the children who had been a thorn in his side for so long would be gone… dealt with… equally finally and decisively.

"Lord Kivar, another meteor is coming," Kor'Voyl said, pointing into the distance. "It's bigger than the other three."

"Doesn't matter," Kivar replied, grinning with anticipation. "An illusion is an illusion, whether it's the size of a fireball, a meteor, or a planet… Ignore it."

Kor'Voyl watched nervously as the meteor grew larger… and closer…

"This one looks different…"

"Of course it looks different! You don't think she would try the same illusions again, do you? Even a child has more brains than you, Kor'Voyl! She's varying her arsenal. It doesn't matter. Illusions are illusions."

Kor'Voyl shook his head. "This one looks different, Lord Kivar!"

Kivar sighed. "How?"

Kor'Voyl shook his head… "I… I'm not sure. The others increased in size at irregular intervals… They seemed to suddenly get a little larger every few seconds or so… but this one is increasing in size with regularity."

Kivar nodded and smiled. "She's learning! Bravo! She may be more useful to me than I thought… I hope she survives the brain purges."

Kivar and Kor'Voyl watched, as the meteor tumbled through the sky toward the ship, growing larger and larger. It was traveling fast… incredibly fast… and now they could see that it was easily three times the size of the ship. As the meteor reached them, Kivar thought, for the briefest of moments, that he could feel heat radiating outward in front of it.

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Near the edge of the Nan-Torel below, a small group of individuals looked upward, watching the fireworks. When Kivar's ship had appeared in the sky, far in the distance, a couple of minutes earlier, Jiba had begun throwing her illusions at it.

"Ooh, look at that one!" little Jayyd yelled, pointing at the large meteor when it appeared in the distant sky."

"I like that one," Zorel said, patting Jiba on the back. "It tumbles. It's awesome!"

Jiba shook her head. "I didn't make that one."

Everyone turned to look at Jiba. "What do you mean, you didn't make that one," Michael asked.

"I didn't make it. It's real, I think."

"I think I made it," Andya said, looking sheepish.

The others turned to Andya. "I didn't know you could make illusions," Zorel said, surprised.

"I can't," Andya said.

"But she can create real animals… well, almost real," Liz said.

"Yeah, she does that good!" Zorel agreed.

Max looked at the meteor. It was moving incredibly fast. It would collide with Kivar's ship in twenty seconds or less, Max estimated… if Kivar didn't move his ship fast.

"Is that meteor solid," Max asked Andya. "I mean, will it be like the illusions or will it… you know…?"

"It's solid, I think," Andya said. "I never created an inanimate object before, so I'm not sure."

Michael raised his eyebrows. "Well, for an inanimate object, that one is pretty animated. It's really trucking!" Michael started to count down, and everyone held their breath…

"Ten, nine, eight, seven…"

"Ooh, this is gonna be big!" Zorel said.

"Three, two, one…"

The sky lit up in a huge fireball, and there was a blinding light that forced everyone to cover their eyes, as the meteor struck the ship head on. Michael could picture Kivar standing there, staring at the huge rock, as it literally rolled over him.

But when they looked up again, the sky was clearing already. The flames and blinding light were dissipating, and the remnants of the huge meteor winked out and disappeared just like all the illusions had before.

"Where's the ship," Liz asked.

"I don't see it," Max said.

"I don't think we're going to," Michael mused.

"But the meteor vanished," Kyle said. "It wasn't real."

Michael nodded. "It was real enough… when it rolled over Kivar. Andya got rid of what was left of it after it broke up from the explosion of the ship."

"I didn't want the pieces to hit Antar," Andya said.

Max smiled. "That was very good thinking, Andya. Excellent thinking! I'm going to have to make you my special defense minister… of inanimate and animate creations."

Andya smiled.

"And you," Max said to Jiba. "I'm going to have to make you my special defense minister of most awesome illusions."

"What about me?" Zorel asked.

Max nodded and grinned. "You can be the protector of the black bog and royal Nan-Torel guide."

"Awesome!" Zorel exclaimed.

Max turned to Danyy… "And since you heard the pawgors' thoughts and found out about the black bog in the first place, you will be my new minister of pawgor communications and black bog therapy."

Danyy grinned. "Awesome!"

"Don't start any HMO's," Alex joked.

Danyy looked puzzled.

"Never mind," Alex said with a grin. "It was a joke."

tbc

Coming up: Lest we forget about Bezto…