by Rai Aren
Rekar stepped up, placing a hand on Zhek’s shoulder. “This man, our loyal friend, had everything taken from him. The King has ruled during both natural disasters and then the decimation of the city, which was his own fault! Each time our people have been left in worse shape than before. His rule has been a travesty and it must be corrected!”
“It will be!” Shera answered in response to her husband’s assertions. “Zhek, you know my husband and I are at your disposal. For too long we have been passive servants to that miserable family. We would be only too happy to help see that they get their due.”
“Thank-you, Shera. I know I can count on you and Rekar, you have proven that.”
Shera smiled proudly. She thought back to the day when she had witnessed Mindara coming into the Palace kitchen after killing Princess Zazmaria in purported self-defense. Zhek had been most appreciative to have such tightly guarded information passed to him. He had in turn passed along word as to when she and Rekar should escape the Palace.
“Rest assured,” Zhek continued, “I will be taking full advantage of your positions.”
“We have longed for the opportunity to actively seek change,” Rekar replied.
Zhek smiled, he was in an excellent position now to finally put an end to House Selaren’s long dominion over the Kierani people. His grandfather, Lord Draxen, had not been able to achieve this noble aim, and had died trying. Now Zhek would see it done.
“The only thing I have left in this world is my son, Setar. He deserves to be with his true family,” Zhek said opening his arms to the crowd to show he meant them all. This drew more cheers. “My son should be the rightful heir to the Kierani throne. We will not accept that Princess they call the Chosen One.” He practically spat out those words. “First they pretend she was killed, lying to everyone, then years later she reappears out of nowhere to claim the leadership of our people? What kind of people would do such a thing?”
“It is evil!”
“Wicked people!”
Mugs were banged angrily on tabletops. Heated murmurs were heard all around the room.
He nodded eagerly. He was enjoying seeing everyone get as riled up as he was. It would serve him well. “It is shameful how that duplicitous family manipulates and deceives anyone they choose, to any degree they choose.”
“Unforgivable!”
“They should die for their crimes!”
People clapped.
Zhek smiled widely, his slate grey eyes cold with years of hate and pain. “They will, they will,” he said. “But first we need to get my son back and deal with this so-called ‘Chosen One’. I had a premonition last night, which is why you were all called here.”
The room fell silent. A slight breeze blew in. The lights flickered wildly.
Zhek had their full attention. “She will try to destroy me and keep my son from me, just as her father tried to. I saw it in my vision. But this time, we will have a much different outcome. She was dead to us once, so she will be again. This time for good.”
“She is evil,” a woman answered. “Only someone with a spirit of evil would act this way.”
“Yes, exactly,” Zhek said, pointing to the woman who spoke, “and she is part of the devious plot to keep my son ignorant of the truth of his life. Lies and secrets. It is all they know. They must be punished for their treachery.”
Rekar jumped in, “None of us believe the lies about the Princess.” He spoke her title as if it were acid on his tongue. “She is a liar just like the rest of them. She may be some kind of sorceress, masquerading as Anjia, to gain power and control over us.”
Zhek said nothing, he knew the Princess was precisely who she claimed to be, but he wanted to use these people’s fear and suspicion to his own advantage. The more they believed she was evil, an abomination, the stronger would be their desire to kill her.
Shera thought of something. “What are we to do about those traitors who supposedly harbored her all those years? Uta and Ehrim? They have certainly participated in this web of lies and deceit. Surely they will not go unpunished for their crimes?”
“They will get their due, mark my words,” Zhek replied, his eyes narrowing. “We know where they live.”
Mugs and chairs were thumped in support.
Shera grinned with self-satisfaction and nodded.
“Zhek, what would you have us do now?” a man in the crowd asked. “Are we to mount an assault on the Palace?”
“In time, yes, but first, we need to get Setar. I want this done with utmost stealth.” He pointed. “Rekar, Shera, we will be relying on you both to tell us when best to strike. Your knowledge of the inside workings of the Palace will be invaluable. We must secure him before any further actions are taken. Understood?” His voice was hard.
“Yes, Zhek,” Rekar answered.
“Of course,” Shera replied, bowing her head slightly.
“We will begin watching his movements,” Rekar said, placing a hand on his wife’s shoulder, “tracking his activities as best we can. We will determine the best opportunity to get to him. Once he is safe with us,” Rekar said, motioning to those around the room, “we can then mount an attack on House Selaren. Zhek and Setar shall rule our people and we will have the order and prosperity we have been denied for so long.”
The people gathered cheered loudly again.
Zhek stood up straight, acknowledging their support. “My son will one day rule as King, and you will finally have the strong and rightful leaders you deserve. I promise you better days ahead. You will all be handsomely rewarded for your loyalty, I give you my word.”
More loud clapping and cheering echoed throughout the crowded room.
“Once Setar is secure, we will begin an aggressive campaign against that family. We will find a way to permanently undermine them, and to open the Kierani people’s eyes to their deceitful practices.” Zhek’s eyes were alight with purpose and drive. “Once people are listening to us, and hearing the truth, we will also find out if that weapon still exists.”
“But the King said it was no longer a threat, that they had dealt with it,” someone replied.
“The King says many things,” Zhek replied hotly, “and most of it is lies. I suspect it does still exist, hidden somewhere. At the very least, I doubt it was completely destroyed.”
“Should we not seek this weapon first?” a man asked. “Take it and use it against them?”
“No!” Zhek said, his facing contorting in anger at the challenge. “We must get my son first. That weapon nearly killed us all. We do not know how to use it or handle it without causing another accident. I will not put Setar’s safety at risk.” He did not mention it was interference with the device, on his grandfather’s direction, that caused the accident.
“Zhek is right,” Rekar said. “It is too dangerous. We need information about it before we make a move for it, or we may end up repeating the past.”
“Precisely,” Zhek said, regaining some composure. “Follow my lead. I know what to do.”
Chapter 28
Diversion, Present-day Egypt
“WHAT are we going to do?” Jack asked, pacing back and forth. “We have a very unwelcome present in our possession at an international airport. There’s no way we can go back home now. Not to mention, we can’t leave Dr. Khadesh and Khamir to their fates with that madman.”
Bob groaned. His shoulders sank. ‘We were so close to getting to go home,’ he thought.
“We have no choice,” Alex said. “We have to find a way to retrieve the Pharom.”
“Maximilian will kill all of us after we give him the Pharom,” Bob said, looking up at her.
“He said he wouldn’t,” Jack added.
“And you believe him?” Bob asked.
“No,” Jack shook his head, “no, I don’t. I just wish I could see a
happy ending to all of this.”
“Let’s just focus on retrieving the Pharom first,” Mitch surmised. He saw their worried faces. “We’ll get through this,” he said placing a hand on Bob’s shoulder and squeezing it for comfort. He nodded at Jack. “I promise.”
Neither of them replied. Alex stayed silent as well. They all knew they were way out of their league in this situation.
“We need to figure out where it’s hidden. We’ll worry about exchanging it for Dr. Khadesh and Khamir later.” Mitch knelt down beside Bob, and rummaged through his duffel bag. “Our luggage went through security. I don’t think we can get them back. What do we have with us we can use?”
They all sat down beside Bob and proceeded to rifle through their carry on luggage.
Alex put Maximilian’s box between her carryon bag and the wall, trying to keep it out of sight as much as possible.
They did an inventory count of what they had on hand, which wasn’t much.
“We have 2000 Egyptian pounds and about 300 US dollars,” Alex said, “along with some granola bars and books. All of our clothes and gear are in our luggage.”
“We need to get back to Khamir’s home,” Mitch said. “There are probably things there we can use, plus maybe we can find some clues as to where we can look for the Pharom.”
“What if they’re there waiting for us?” Jack asked.
“Yeah,” Bob said, “with everything they’ve done, they can probably figure out where Khamir lives.”
“Either way,” Mitch replied, “I don’t think we have much of a choice. We need to start somewhere. Besides, they might not know what to look for. Maximilian’s right, we have an edge in that department.”
“Ok, how do we get out of here?” Bob said, glancing up at the heavily armed airport security guards patrolling not twenty feet away from them. “Once we went through security, I don’t think they’ll let us go back out. And especially not when our luggage is probably being loaded onto the plane as we speak. If we leave, they’ll think we put a bomb in our luggage. These guys shoot terrorists on sight.”
“Maybe we can create a diversion?” Jack offered.
“How?” Alex asked. She noticed Mitch eyeing the box Maximilian sent them.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows raised.
She sighed. “Ok, let’s do it.”
yyyyy
Jack nervously walked towards the security screening area. He pulled a length of chewing gum out of his mouth, rolled it into two small balls and placed them in his ears. He walked towards a young man who had just passed through security. The young man was more concerned with tying his shoelaces than paying attention to his still-open carryon luggage. Jack walked by as nonchalantly as he could and deftly dropped the sonic grenade into the man’s luggage. He continued walking, holding onto the five foot long dental floss tied to the pin of the sonic grenade. With a quick, hard jerk of his hand, a piercing sound screeched through the terminal.
People screamed, covering their ears. Security guards frantically searched for the source of the sound. Jack ran into the main terminal. Mitch, Alex, and Bob were right on his heels.
“Bomb!” Alex shouted as she ran into the group of people going through security. The four friends pushed and snaked their way through the crowd.
People shouted, frantically running towards the exits.
“Stop!” A security guard shouted at the four friends.
They ignored him and kept running.
It didn’t take long for the hysteria to grow. People rushed out of the airport. Soldiers raced into the airport carrying automatic machine guns, which only caused the fear and chaos to escalate further.
“You! Stop!” A heavily armed soldier shouted at them. More soldiers rushed into the scene, colliding with panicked travelers. The crowds and confusion blocked the soldier’s view, allowing the foursome to put some distance between them. They shoved their way through the terminal and finally escaped outside.
“Let’s get to the van!” Mitch shouted as he directed the group towards the parking lot. They fought their way through hordes of people, frantically running in all directions.
They ran towards the spot where Khamir had parked when he dropped them off. It was still there.
Relieved as they were to see the van, they realized it was only still there because of their friend’s terrible misfortune.
“Umm, keys…” Jack said.
“Wait, I think I’ve still got the spare key Khamir gave us before we retrieved the Pharom,” Alex said, fishing around in her backpack. “I left it on my key ring. I forgot to give it back to him.” She found it and unlocked the van. They all piled inside.
Mitch took the wheel. “Now, we just have to remember how to get back to Khamir’s house.”
They sped off into Cairo traffic, past emergency vehicles arriving on the scene.
Chapter 29
Spies, Circa 10,000 B.C.
AFTER his day’s work at the Palace, Rekar sought out Zhek back in Tessea. He and Shera had come up with an idea.
“Ah, Zhek,” Rekar said, finding him working in a small workshop in their village. Zhek had been spending most of his time lately adding new weapons to the arsenal they already had. Amongst the benches and tables were scattered tools and parts. “How goes the work?” he asked, walking across the dirt floor to the workbench where Zhek was hunched over hammering a dagger, which was about ten inches long, with a curved blade.
“I think this could be quite useful,” Zhek said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Let me demonstrate.” He took the knife and threw it at the wall behind Rekar. The knife spun threw the air end over end, hitting the wall, cutting deeply and firmly into the wood.
Rekar jumped. He looked at the dagger sticking out of the wall. He walked over to it and tried to pull it from the wood. It did not come loose easily. He gripped it, then pulled hard. He nearly lost his balance with the effort it took to pull it free.
Zhek laughed.
Rekar steadied his footing, his eyes wide with surprise. He looked at the elegant blade in his hand. He examined the design, which allowed it to be thrown in such an efficient manner. “Quite deadly,” he said, admiring the unique weapon. “Excellent at covering short distances fast.”
Zhek smiled proudly, leaning against a post. “That is the idea. It would also be very effective in cutting a man’s throat, do you not agree?”
Rekar slowly nodded, as he looked down at the curved blade of the lethal weapon. It gleamed.
Zhek walked over and abruptly took it from Rekar. “It was not hard to make once I perfected the design. I think it could come in rather handy.”
Rekar watched nervously, as Zhek made the motion against an imaginary victim’s throat. “Indeed,” he said, taking note of Zhek’s intensity.
“So, you came to see me,” Zhek said, setting the blade down on the wooden table next to his tools. “I hope you have some useful information for me.”
“I do,” Rekar answered, grateful for the change of subject. “Shera and I have been monitoring movements within the Palace.”
“You have been careful about that I hope,” Zhek said, giving him a warning look.
“Yes, as careful as we could be. The only people that have seen us in places we would not normally be were a couple of other staff members. We gave them reasonable excuses as to why we were there. They seemed to believe us.” He took a seat at the workbench.