“No,” Casimir said. “They don’t have a choice. Who is chosen is chosen. Even the Panel is not privy to how the men are selected or why. They can only follow the guidance that is given to them and induct those who are chosen. Besides, Aegeus is not dead. He didn’t die in that battle. I assure you that there are members of the Order who still know that. Whether they think that he would have already died at the hands of Ryan is another thing.”
“Who gives them the guidance?” Icelyn asked.
“What?”
“You said that the Panel must follow the guidance that they are given and induct those who are selected. Who gives them that guidance? How do they know who they are supposed to bring in?”
Casimir shook his head.
“I don’t know. No one does.”
“And how are they given the guidance?”
“I don’t know that, either.”
“So, is it possible that no one within the hierarchy knows who is actually chosen?”
“What do you mean?”
“You told me that there is the truth and the corrupt. If the corrupt will go so far as to align with enemies and offer up one of their strongest and most loyal, and are willing to kill and destroy any who stand in their way without regard to who they are, but only what damage they might cause to the hierarchy, why do you think that they would stop at not following through with the guidance of whoever it is that tells them who to select into the Order? It is kept so mysterious that no one else other than those who bring in the selected know who’s been chosen. That means that they have no real obligation to follow through. If they disagree with an appointment, then they can just not induct the person. That keeps them out of the hierarchy and away from the influence and control that the Panel doesn’t want to give them.”
“I don’t believe that the entire Panel is corrupt,” Casimir said. “There are some who still believe in the truth.”
“And even if they aren’t? Would those who follow the truth know to stand up against those who didn’t? Just like you said, the corrupt destroy what stands in their way. If there are still members of the Panel who are not corrupt, they are still alive and in control only because those who are corrupt haven’t seen them pose any threat. They might not know who has been chosen. The corrupt can reject who they want to and strike down whoever stands in their way.”
“That,” Casimir said, “is why you are the closest of any person who is not in the Order to being a part of it. You think like your father. You are beautiful and brave like your mother.” He took a step toward her, his shoulders straightening as he pulled himself up to his full height. “You are fearless like me.”
Malcolm groaned behind her and Icelyn turned to look at him again. His head turned back and forth slowly as if controlled by the images that he was seeing in his dreams.
“He’s never going to be the same,” she murmured.
“No, he’s not,” Casimir agreed. “He will be better. Stronger. More sure of the decision that he made. What he went through, no man should have survived. Malcolm did. And the only reason that he did is because his heart and his mind were telling him that there was so much more than he had to live for and to fight for than he did to die for.”
“Will he live?” Icelyn asked.
It was a thought that she hadn’t wanted to put voice to, but one that she hadn’t been able to get out of her mind since they had first found him.
“Of course, he will,” Casimir said. “He got here on his own feet and he will leave on them, too. It was smart of Mhavrych to bring him here. Not just to release me, but for him as well. The cold will be good for him. His body will fight harder to heal and it will shore him up for anything else that we might face.”
Icelyn brushed a piece of hair away from Malcolm’s face, careful not to wake him.
“I’m sorry that you had to live here for so long by yourself,” she said.
“I wasn’t always alone,” Casimir said. “Mhavrych and your parents came to visit me periodically, and I knew that there were others here.”
“Others?” Icelyn asked. “What do you mean?”
“I never knew who they were, but sometimes when I was out in the snow, I would see figures in the distance. They never approached me and I never approached them, but they were there.”
“Why would you go out in the snow?” Icelyn said. “I thought that you had to stay in the cavern because of your exile. It took a man from your lineage to release you.”
“I was permitted a small radius around the cavern. Just a few feet. Enough to go out and gather snow for water and whatever food I could trap. Mhavrych and your parents did their best to make sure that I had what I needed, but there were times when they weren’t able to visit for long stretches, and it only worsened after your parents died. It has been a very long time since Mhavrych came to visit me.”
“I don’t understand,” Icelyn said, finally saying something that had been bothering her since she first heard the details of how her grandfather came to be exiled in the snow. “You said that Mhavrych is the one who brought you here.”
“Yes. When I was sentenced to die, Aegeus was assigned to be my executioner. It was something that we knew was a possibility, and we had plans in place,”
“Malcolm was right,” Icelyn said. “He said that you and the other confidences of Aegeus would know that if you were caught and brought up in front of the Panel that you would be sentenced to death, but that Aegeus would be chosen to carry out the execution.”
Casimir nodded.
“It was the one reassurance that we had. I knew that even if the Panel found out about me, there was no way that they would find out about Aegeus. There was nothing that they could do to me to make me betray him. They would sentence me to die, but Aegeus would be asked to handle it. Because I was so high in the hierarchy and the crimes that they accused me of were so egregious, it would be a private execution. All he would need to do is return to the lair and proclaim that I was dead. They would come up with a story about my death to tell the family – which, of course, the family wouldn’t believe, but they didn’t know that – and our plans would continue.”
“But it was after you were put into exile that Aegeus disappeared. You said that you were waiting for him in the war room and that he never got there.”
“Yes,” Casimir said. “I believed him dead. Everyone did. I couldn’t see any other explanation for why he didn’t arrive as we had planned.”
“But how could you have been waiting in the war room for him when you had already been put into exile?”
“Athan told you that there were only two ways that I would be able to get out of exile. One was a man in my family. The other was Aegeus. When we had finalized our plans, Aegeus came here and released me, but only temporarily.”
“Why temporarily?”
“Once someone of the Order has been released from exile permanently, they cannot return to that place. It’s too dangerous for them and for the Order. The Panel knows that when someone is in exile they only have time, and time means that they will think. With enough time, anyone can become a serious threat. So long ago the Order established that no one who is permanently released from exile will be able to return because they didn’t want for anyone to be able to carry out plans that they made while serving their time.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“Aegeus was extremely confident in everything that he believed and in his convictions, but he was also realistic. He knew that there was always a chance that something wouldn’t go exactly as it was planned and he wanted to offer me a form of protection. If the Panel had discovered that I was still alive…” he paused, a slight shudder rolling through him. “Aegeus made it so that if I needed to, I could return to this place and continue to carry out my exile until the time was right to be released. We had planned out the battle to the very detail and a few days before it was to happen, he came and brought me back to the kingdom with Mhavrych’s help. I stayed hidden in the war room, waiting for him, but
he never came. I waited for three days. Finally, I knew that there was no other option for me but to return here and continue to wait. It wasn’t long until Mhavrych came to tell me that Aegeus was dead.”
“So why didn’t you leave? Why didn’t you have my father release you?”
“Where would I have gone?” Casimir asked. “What was there to do? Our plans had crumbled. The war as we had designed it was over. Going back to the kingdom then would only mean certain death and the end of any hope that what Aegeus and I had started would ever be brought to fruition. All the work that we had done would have been in vain and I would be handing over the safety and persistence of the Universe and of life within it over into the hands of destruction. That wasn’t something that I was willing to do. I had to wait. I had to trust that the division between truth and corruption was still there and that if I was patient, my time would come. And now it has.”
“That was how I got my name,” Icelyn said, remembering what they had told her when she first encountered her grandfather.
He gave a single nod.
“So that no one could forget.”
“But it still doesn’t make sense,” Icelyn insisted. “Mhavrych doesn’t look like he’s more than a couple of years older than me. How could he have been the one to bring you into exile if I wasn’t even born when it happened?”
“There is a lot that you don’t know about Mhavrych,” Casimir told her. “There is a lot that no one knows about Mhavrych. I can tell you that he barely looks different now than when he brought me here.”
Icelyn didn’t know what to think about that revelation and her mind had moved to what had changed in the years that Casimir had been in exile.
“The world is different now than when you came here,” Icelyn told him.
“The war isn’t,” Casimir said. “If Aegeus has been held by Ryan for all these years, nothing has changed. The fight is still ours and there will be nothing to stop us now.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mhavrych couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He had heard the words that Aegeus was still alive, but it had been so many years, so long since he had seen him. His death had torn through the Universe and caused ripples that stretched farther than anyone knew. But now he was looking at him again, seeing him standing just a few yards away. A moment before he had witnessed the first moment that Aegeus and Ellora had seen each other again in all the years that they had been apart. Mhavrych felt honored to have seen that moment, an expression of love and devotion purer than any that he had ever seen.
The couple looked at each other for several long moments, seemingly lost in each other and unaware of anything that was happening outside of the small space around them. Then Aegeus’s eyes lifted to him and Mhavrych saw the flicker of recognition cross his face.
“Mhavrych!” he called, his voice happy and surprised.
Mhavrych started toward him, crossing the rocks as quickly as he could. Aegeus opened his arms to him as he approached and Mhavrych stepped into them, accepting the embrace happily. He pounded on Aegeus’s back affectionately, happier than he had felt in as long as he could remember. Seeing this man again was more than just knowing that a life hadn’t been lost. This was new hope.
“Mhavrych,” Aegeus said as they stepped back from the embrace. “This is my wife, Ellora.”
Mhavrych nodded.
“We’ve met,” he said.
Aegeus looked at him strangely and then looked at Ellora. She had her arm wrapped tightly around her husband’s waist as if she didn’t want to release him for fear that he would leave again.
“He saved my life,” Ellora told him.
Mhavrych wished that she hadn’t put it that way. He didn’t want to cause any more turmoil or stress for the man, and he knew that knowing that his wife had been in danger would do that.
“What happened?” Aegeus asked.
“It’s over now,” Ellora said, shaking her head as she pulled Aegeus a little closer. “There’s no need to talk about it. I’m fine. I’m right here.”
Aegeus turned toward her and wrapped both of his arms around her waist to draw her close.
“Yes, you are.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Mhavrych saw a figure approaching and turned to see Maxim coming toward them. He held his newborn daughter in his arms and was looking at his parents with happiness brightening his face. A faint trickle of blood was dried along the side of his face, a reminder of the brief but violent fight that they had experienced outside of the quarry. None of that seemed to matter to him now as he walked up to his parents and presented his daughter to Aegeus.
“Papa,” he said, “this is my daughter.”
Aegeus’s eyes grew misty and he held his hands out for the baby. The tiny child fit into his palms as Maxim lowered her into them and Aegeus drew her up close to his face. He kissed each of her plump cheeks and then looked at Ellora.
“Can you believe it?” he whispered.
Ellora shook her head, reaching to touch the baby’s head.
“She was quite a surprise tonight.”
“She was ready,” Aegeus said. “She knows that she has things to do.”
“She has a world to save.”
Aegeus looked up at Mhavrych and nodded.
“Was she born here?” Aegeus asked.
“She was,” Ellora said. “Just a little bit inside the tunnels.”
Aegeus looked at Maxim and Mhavrych could see by the look in his eyes that he understood the impact of the baby’s birth.
“Your daughter is the beginning,” Aegeus said. “She has begun something completely new. She is not just a blend, she is a new species.”
“She is the rightful ruler of this planet,” Mhavrych said.
This birth was so incredibly important. With just the merit of her first breath, this little baby had changed the world and now it was their responsibility more than ever to protect it for her.
“We should bring her back to Ivy,” Ellora said. “It looks like she’s getting hungry. And the new mother won’t want to be away from her for long.”
Mhavrych watched as Aegeus tucked the baby against his shoulder with one hand and reached down to hold his wife with the other and they started back across the quarry toward the entrance. They had taken a few steps when they noticed that there were two others standing with them. He saw the woman first, noticing immediately that she was not like the rest. This was a hybrid, one of Ryan’s experiments, yet they didn’t react to her. His eyes then moved to the man standing beside her and he felt his breath catch in his chest. It couldn’t be.
“Mama,” Maxim said, resting his hand on his mother’s back and gesturing toward the two. “These are two of our allies. This is Severine,” he gestured toward the hybrid woman who offered a smile, and then toward the man, “and this is her mate, Rilex.”
Mhavrych saw spots bursting in front of his eyes and suddenly felt slightly unsteady on his feet, but he couldn’t let it show. He kept his face expressionless and said nothing. Maxim turned to him and gestured at the two.
“Severine, Rilex, this is Mhavrych.”
Rilex looked at him and their eyes met. He knew. Mhavrych could see it in his eyes. But he said nothing, his expression seeming to relay the message that they were to stay silent for now. He nodded his acknowledgment to both of them and the entire group started toward the entrance to the quarry. Mhavrych hesitated, allowing all of them to go ahead of him before falling into step behind them so that he was the last to approach the entrance. He paused for a moment when he reached it and turned to look out over the desert. Everything was quiet, but Mhavrych knew that it wasn’t as peaceful as it seemed. Somewhere out there was the man who had attacked Maxim. He didn’t know if he was alive or dead, but it was only an indication of the presence of the forces. They hadn’t retreated. They weren’t hiding. They were there, and they were moving across the planet in patterns that their army didn’t yet understand. These weren’t the large-scale maneuvers of large segments o
f the army that they had anticipated. Instead, this showed that there were individual soldiers prowling the planet, ready to attack whenever they might have the chance.
Mhavrych stepped down into the tunnels and followed the sound of the muffled voices back toward the chamber where Ivy had given birth. He stepped inside cautiously, not wanting his presence to interfere with the reunion that was unfolding in front of him. He stood against the wall just inside the door, leaned back against the cool stone as he stared at Rilex, his mind churning as he tried to understand what he was seeing.
****
Ivy came out of her sleep peacefully. It was the first time that she had felt that way since being away from Maxim, and it was comforting to feel the relaxed, calm feeling as soon as she opened her eyes. Her hands immediately went to her belly, just as they always did when she woke up, but as soon as she felt that the full swell was gone, the reality settled in that she had delivered the baby, a beautiful little girl. She remembered the look on Maxim’s face when he first took the baby into his arms and gazed down at her. He hadn’t had much time to wrap his mind around the idea that Ivy was carrying his child. She had known for weeks before she told him, and then had the privilege of holding the baby within her, connecting with her, since she had left Penthos and went to Uoria. Maxim, though, had known only a short time, but the look on his face told her that he had never stopped thinking about the family that was just beginning.
She gently eased herself into a sitting position and looked around the quiet, empty chamber. She vaguely remembered Maxim and Ellora taking the baby out of the room with them so that she could rest, but now she wished that they were back. As if her thoughts had called out to them, Ivy heard voices approaching and a moment later Maxim and Ellora stepped back into the chamber. She noticed that neither was holding the baby and she felt a moment of panic before the doorway darkened again and a man she didn’t recognize came into sight. She could see the baby cradled in his arm, and when she looked closer she realized that he was holding Ellora’s hand.
The Alien's Tensions Page 18
