A King Ascends, page 18
“He has a plan. Jon has a plan and lots of help. It’ll be all right,” Alexis insisted, as she tried to calm the queen’s fears and her own at the same time. She continued to calm her by telling her about the other children being hidden at Senator Aeneas’ country house. She cried, so Alexis shifted away to give her some privacy.
“Thank you for your care,” she whispered, as she quieted. She looked around at the dirty area and the deep concern in the lovely eyes of the doctor. She tried to sit up straighter against the wall.
“You’re welcome. Are you more comfortable sitting up like that? I need to leave you for a little while. I need to check for my friend, and Your Highness, please drink more water if you can. It will help with your dehydration, and I’ll change your bandage in a little while. I have a question, if you don’t mind. Why didn’t a scab form over your wound? I thought that was a natural response for all people from this planet.”
“Oh, no dear. It is a disc only inserted into the shoulders of the royal family. Tariq took mine out of my shoulder so no scab could form and heal my injury.”
“That explains a lot, but why didn’t Jon know that?”
“That’s my fault. I simply didn’t think to tell him or the other children about it. We always think there is more time. There were so many things I neglected to tell them,” she said sadly.
Alexis squeezed her hand in encouragement and climbed out of the hole. She cautiously leveraged herself out and looked through the rooms for Willem. Her worry for Jon kept rerunning in her brain. His plan seemed insane to her, but Jon kept telling her it was the only way to get close to Tariq. He needed to rely on his natural defenses to protect him long enough to get everyone in place.
A slight scuff sounded just ahead, and Alexis moved to the side wall to inch forward to the corner. A moment later, Willem’s head peeked around the edge. Just in time to catch her as she sagged in relief.
“Whoa, are you okay?” Willem whispered.
Alexis blushed and moved away from his supporting arms.
“Just embarrassed,” she said. “I found her. She’s alive but can’t stand. Can you help me get her moved?” She led the way, and they hurried into the recessed area. The queen started in fear when she saw Willem’s uniform in the dim light.
“It’s okay, Your Highness, it’s me, Willem.”
The queen eyed the uniform and then looked at him. She knew this man. Then realization dawned. “You’re Suri and Gregory’s son, aren’t you? I’m sorry I can’t seem to remember much from when you helped me.”
“I helped you get into the bolt hole. Let me help you again.”
The queen nodded agreement.
Between Alexis and Willem, they got her up and out. Willem carried her to a nearby chair. Alexis went back to grab her medical bag, canteen, and clean up the bloody mess. Willem kneeled next to the queen, telling her again about the children and assuring her that they were safe. He pulled out his communicator and contacted Evin. The queen listened as Willem told Evin about finding her and how they needed to find a way to move her somewhere safer. When he got done, he smiled at her, as he said that there was another doctor coming, too.
“Why, Alexis is here?” the queen asked.
“Oh, that’s splendid news.” Alexis had worried about the queen’s medical condition, and she would not be there to help. “You’re still dehydrated, Your Highness. Please keep drinking the water. I gave you a painkiller, so it should soon feel better. Willem and I both have an important part to play in Jon’s plan, so I’m going to be turning over your care to another doctor. I don’t know his or her name, but I’m sure the people who love you have picked only the best.” Alexis smiled.
“Don’t you think it’s time you call me Lenore, Alexis?” The queen looked at her in gratitude. She closed her eyes and rested against the back of the chair. She was bloody, dirty, and a little smelly, but Alexis thought this woman had an aura about her that said she would survive. It was that attitude that had saved her life and given her the courage to crawl into the bolt hole after the attack. How she admired that strength and hoped she would have the same strength when she needed it.
Distracted, it surprised Alexis when the chest of drawers opened and emitted four men and one woman who carried a medical bag. She had forgotten the secret passageway but was relieved to get the queen to better shelter. She brought the doctor up-to-date on the care she had given the queen and the injections she had administered to ease her pain and battle any infection that she might have contracted lying on the dirty floor of the bolt hole.
“Hey, I made that chair!” one man whispered, as they looked at the beautiful furnishings. Some men recognized pieces they had made as well. It made them proud that the king and queen valued their work.
“In here, hurry,” Willem called, and the men hurried with their tools into the next room. They were shocked and angered to find the queen in such poor condition. They braced the chair while the doctor conferred with Alexis and ended up applying an additional compress to the wound to protect it during the move. Willem opened the false fireplace back for them to use. It was larger, and the chair would fit through easily. Alexis said her goodbyes to the queen and wished her a speedy recovery. It surprised her she felt so close and responsible for this woman in such a short time.
Willem gestured that they also move through the fireplace opening. Together, they moved down two floors, but before they got to the hidden entrance, he stopped her.
“I need to prepare you for what you are going to see at the general’s office. Jon was in terrible shape when he gave me the code word for calling for help. Brace yourself.”
He led her through a small door. He cautioned her to silence, and they tiptoed to the end of the hall. “Let’s go,” he whispered, as he took her arm. The guards snapped to alert and then they stared suspiciously at Willem, who didn’t give them time to speak. The guards muttered among themselves. Willem pulled his disruptor and looked at each one.
“Just try it. Now where is the general? He will want to talk to this woman.”
“Who are you to say what the general will want to do?” demanded one guard. The others murmured agreement, eyeing Alexis up and down, and some of them moved closer.
“Fine, we’ll wait, but I wouldn’t wish to be you when he finds out you let her stand out here instead of telling him she was here. The skin left on your body won’t cover a fly.” Willem held onto Alexis’ arm and pulled her closer as he leaned back against the wall like he was ready to wait forever.
The guards looked at each other uneasily. After all, they had seen what the general could do to a person. Finally, the senior officer broke down and knocked on the door of the torture room. He looked at Willem and Alexis while they waited.
The door slammed open, and the general stormed out. Blood covered him, and he was obviously furious that anyone would disturb his session of torture. From the room itself came a low moan. Alexis was startled when she recognized the voice. Willem tightened his grip on her arm. The slight movement drew Tariq’s attention to them, and he turbulently stormed over to Willem.
“What is the meaning of this interruption?” he demanded.
The prefect meandered out of the room, but his demeanor changed when he saw Alexis. She glared at him.
Willem forcibly drew Alexis forward. “I found her on level eight, wandering around. I thought you would want her here, sir.” Willem snapped to attention and pushed Alexis forward.
“Who is she?”
“She says she’s Prince Jon’s girlfriend. She was trying to find him.”
The prefect added from the doorway, “She was the doctor on the prison planet who was treating Jon. She must have helped him escape.”
“Is she now? Well, you found him,” he said to her. “Let’s show you your boyfriend now. Maybe you’ll want a real man instead.” He stroked his bloody hand down her cheek. “Bring her,” he told Willem, his tone of voice turning mean.
Willem took a firm hold on her arm and followed him back into the torture room. Willem whispered to Alexis, “Courage.”
Alexis steeled herself for what she might see, but nothing prepared her for the sight of Jon as he hung by his wrists. Stripped to the waist and beaten all over. The webbing covered some injuries in white patches, but even they were bloody. Beaten so fast and hard, the protection from his disc had no time to repair him between blows. Jon was semi-conscious and jolted awake when Tariq threw water on him.
“Maybe you can get him to give me the code,” he told Alexis.
She looked at this monster in a man’s skin and wrested out of Willem’s grip so fast he lost his hold on her. She sprang at Tariq, trying to claw his eyes out, leaving long, bloody streaks running down his chin. Tears ran down her cheeks even as Willem tried to get control of her again.
“Let me go, let me kill him,” she screamed.
The prefect backhanded her so hard she fell to the floor, bloody with her cheek flayed open. “Oh my, this could be helpful.” He looked at Tariq, who was straightening his clothes. “Yes indeed, don’t you agree, General?”
Tariq looked at Alexis and then at Jon. “Mmm, what do you think, Jon?”
Jon moaned and said, “No, no, no. Leave her alone, she doesn’t know the code.”
“Oh, I think yes, yes, yes. Bring her,” he said to Willem, and he ordered the other guards to drag Jon behind him, a gruesome parade down the hallways. Willem followed them, still holding Alexis.
CHAPTER 34
General Tariq looked in triumph at Jon as he lay at his feet in the ancient antechamber. Jon couldn’t seem to get to his feet to move toward the transporter. The uneasy guards had just let him drop and now stood around watching the general. The prefect watched from the corner of the small room, wondering whether he would learn anything he could use against the general when he made his own move for power.
Tariq kicked Jon to get him to move toward the platform. “Get up there. You, too, my dear,” he said, smiling as he gestured toward Alexis. Alexis leaned down to help Jon get onto the transporter platform. The general took a gun from a guard, and he and the prefect joined them.
When the transporter stopped, it amazed Alexis as she looked around at the gleaming and spotless room that contained a large, low table that would hold one person, a bank of controls, and a keypad.
“Get up on the table, my dear. This shouldn’t hurt unless Jon makes a mistake.” Tariq laughed and gestured with his gun.
“No,” she said, and crossed her arms.
The prefect moved to backhand her again, but Tariq stopped him with a glance.
“No? I don’t think you understand.” He pivoted and hit Jon hard across the face with his gun. Jon staggered back from the blow and would have fallen if Alexis hadn’t caught him.
“Oh, I enjoy that. I could do that all day.” He smiled at the prefect, who looked uneasy. “Get on the table now,” he told her again, as he pointed to the low table in front of an enormous machine.
Alexis looked helplessly at Jon, who gave her a brief nod and a little smile to encourage her. The table itself surprised her because it wasn’t uncomfortable, it just seemed to warm and conform to her shape and size.
“Now, Jon, enter the code. You remember it now, don’t you?” Tariq taunted.
Jon limped over to the keyboard and slowly entered a code. Alexis held her breath, not knowing what to expect. Alexis felt a pleasant warmth and a small prick in her shoulder, but other than that, nothing more. She looked over at Jon, who wasn’t looking at her, but she noticed Tariq was watching Jon closely, and Jon seemed to be watching the controls.
“That’s fine, my dear. You can get down now. Now…” Tariq said, as he pointed his gun at Jon. Alexis fell off the platform, drawing his attention. It was the chance Jon had been waiting for as he swept his leg around and under Tariq, knocking his legs out from under him and slamming him into the prefect. Alexis ran to Jon, but he yelled, “Get on the transporter!” He ran, being careful to keep himself between Tariq and Alexis. Just as he got to the transport platform, Tariq fired, hitting Jon in the back.
“No,” Alexis screamed, as Jon fell into her arms. They dematerialized out of the room.
Tariq stared at the transporter, consumed with rage that his prey had gotten away. He turned to the prefect, demanding, “Go after them, you idiot,” shoving him toward the transporter. He wanted to tear the place apart, but there was nothing in the room except the machine. A machine he desperately needed. After a few moments, he got himself under control and turned toward his destiny. He walked to the table and climbed onto it to lie down. Looking around one last time, he turned to the keyboard and typed in the code Jon had used. “Don’t want to make a mistake, now do we,” he said to himself, as he pushed the button.
CHAPTER 35
Jon and Alexis re-appeared in the transporter room with Alexis staggering under Jon’s weight. She couldn’t see anything except Jon as she fought to stop the bleeding. The prefect materialized on the transporter next and saw Matt and others coming forward to help her and Jon. He took advantage of the confusion to slip from the room. No one noticed his departure. Matt had to bodily move Alexis aside so another doctor could bend to examine her for injuries. She fought to get back to Jon, but another doctor was already assuring her she would deal with Jon’s many wounds. She could see the white substance was already forming over the wound in his back.
“Let me go, I’m a doctor, I have to help him,” she cried, as she fought Matt’s hold.
“Alexis, it’s me, Matt O’Shea. The doctors you met earlier are here and will take care of Jon until you can, I promise. It’s all right now. We need to take care of your injuries first. You have a nasty cut on your cheek. It needs medical attention, too.”
Matt passed her to Lu-zan, who removed her from the room, following the gurney carrying Jon away. Then he motioned to Willem to go with her and Jon.
When Lu-zan returned, he and Matt moved to go through the transporter. At Matt’s signal, they arranged themselves to cover the maximum room when they materialized. As they stepped down into the chamber, they met their first surprise. The chamber was empty.
“Where did he go?” Matt asked the empty air. They conducted a thorough search, tapping walls and looking for hidden panels or doorways. Matt then walked over to the machine and thought he saw the answer there, but he would need to talk to Jon for confirmation. If Jon lived through his injuries.
“Let’s go see Jon and Alexis, if she ever lets us near either of them again,” Lu-zan spoke from behind him.
Matt turned to look at him. “Yes, let’s go.”
Matt and Lu-zan were both impatient to talk with Jon, but first, that meant they needed permission from Dr. Alexis Michaels, and that was not a simple matter, as she had become very protective of her patient. Finally, she announced they could have a few moments alone with him.
They entered the room to find Jon holding Alexis’ hand as he lay on the bed. He looked like hell, but his eyes were bright, clear, and fixed on Alexis.
“I guess I’m going to need another survival specialist again,” Matt said with a grin. Jon just returned the grin. “I have another question. What happened to Tariq and the prefect when you left that chamber?”
Jon’s grin widened into a smile. “Tariq almost had it, but what he didn’t know was the machine recognized a new code only once. Each of our codes is unique, so if he entered the same code I used for Alexis, the machine would read it as a threat. It would have simply removed the threat. Did anyone see the prefect leave the chamber?”
“No, the chaos in the transporter room must have allowed him to escape. We’ll look for him,” Lu-zan assured him, when he saw Jon’s expression turn serious.
Jon’s eyes widened, and he surprised everyone when he made the unexpected urgent announcement and struggled to rise. “I have to get to the audience chamber. Now!”
“You can’t, you’re too hurt,” Alexis protested.
“You don’t understand, I have to complete the link.”
“I thought the link existed already. I don’t understand what more you need to do?”
“Please, there is no time now to explain. Come and watch,” Jon said through clenched teeth. “Please hurry.”
Lu-zan and Matt exchanged glances and moved to order everyone to the audience chamber. The confused regular guards and doctors all surrounded Jon’s gurney to wheel him that way. There were many people already in the chamber, and the regular guards were ushering the crowd out when Jon stopped them.
“They need to see this link happen.”
Matt looked around the room, automatically taking in any threats, the various entrances, and the large, triangular shape behind the throne chairs. He noted that the color of the palace guard uniforms were a different color than the one wore by Willem, so he divided his men and the palace guards between watching the doors and watching the crowd for any signs of trouble. He hurried back in time to see Lu-zan trying to help Jon stand.
“Wait, do you need to stand? Can’t you just do what you have to do lying down?”
“No,” Jon replied. “Help me get to the Poeirlinum.”
“The what…in um?”
“Up there to the triangle thing.”
“Oh, okay, here we go,” and he picked Jon up and carried him up the steps. “Now what?”
“Get my clothes off of me. I need to align my spine with the chair.”
“Now? Here, in front of all these people?”
“Yes, do it now. Hurry, please.”
Lu-zan followed Jon’s orders, not understanding why his friend had become an exhibitionist. Alexis moved to block the public’s view as much as possible.
Jon stepped back and lay against the triangle interface.
As the minutes passed, everyone retreated down the steps to stand together. The Poeirlinum glowed brighter and brighter, and Jon changed. Alexis gasped and stretched out her hand toward him.
Her cry caused Jon to open his silver eyes and focus on her. He wondered whether she would stay with him after he became what he would become.
