Max Arena (19 page)

Meanwhile, all other eyes in the room
locked onto Max. One by one, he scanned the faces of everyone
present. Elsa sat at one end of the central couch, her eyes bright
and perky, letting him know she was there to support him if needed.
Max winked at her.

Then to Kris at the other end of the
couch, who was anything but perky. Since their morning training
session, her mood had turned very gloomy and now she sat scrunched
into the corner of the vast, leather upholstery, her feet pulled up
and her eyes sunken. Something had happened and Max immediately
felt an unbidden emotion rise within himself. Compassion and it was
strange because he had never felt it before for anyone other than
Elsa or their children.

Acknowledging the new sensation, Max
stored it away and slid his gaze sideways to where Sheikh Abdullah
sat in a separate armchair, his robes elegantly draped all around.
In the uneven, slightly hooded light of the room, his pristine
white attire radiated a gentle glow, making him appear
preternatural. The aura suited him. Despite the good vibes Max was
getting from the man, Abdullah remained mysterious. Seemingly
trustworthy, but mysterious nonetheless.

Then
, rotating his head back the other way, Max found Joe
standing not far from him, leaning against the edge of the
fireplace mantle. In Joe’s mouth was a pipe, unlit, but perched
between his lips just like he was puffing away on it. The pipe
looked right at home on him and if this had been anywhere else in a
normal world, Joe could have been anyone’s grandfather, older,
wiser and more care free, but this was not a normal world and Max
knew Joe was far from care free.

‘
The floor is yours’
, Max,’ Joe said, removing his pipe for a
moment.

Max nodded and stole a few extra moments to
convince himself his first words were the right ones.

‘
Okay,’ he started. ‘I promised you all the
truth and that’s exactly what you’re going to get, from start to
finish. Unfortunately, I’m no Abdullah or Joe when it comes to
telling stories, so if you’re looking for clever words or turns of
phrase for effect, get ready to be disappointed, but be rest
assured that what I’m about to tell you is true. Absolutely true.
It might get weird and over the top, but every word is real. I
don’t tell lies. I never have and I’m not about to
start.’

Max paused and silent expectation flowed back
at him.

‘
Good,’ Max continued. ‘Now fortunately, I
don’t have to start by convincing you that aliens exist. Macktidas
has done that for me, so that’s one bullet dodged, but now I
do
have to give you the second big
punch line. I’m half alien too.’

Max paused again as he rescanned all the
faces in the room. To everyone’s credit, no one blinked or budged.
No one even uttered a sound. It was as though he had just spoken
the most mundane comment in the world.

‘
Well,’ Max added, ‘that went down a lot
easier than I
figured it
would.’

‘
To be fair t
o you, Max,’ Joe said quietly, ‘the possibility of
you having extra terrestrial genetics is a notion we have all
entertained quite strongly since this affair began. Let’s consider
the facts. You are being hunted by an alien warlord and your
physical prowess is to be perfectly blunt, superhuman. However,
despite our growing suspicions of your heritage, thank you for
sharing it openly. Now, please, go on when you are
ready?’

Max nodded and looked down at the ground as
he realised his naivety. He would not underestimate his new friends
again. He then flicked his gaze up to Elsa who nodded back at him,
urging him to continue. That was all he needed.

‘
Okay, moving along then,’ Max continued.
‘
Let’s start with some
facts. I don’t know who my father is, but he was human. It was my
mother who was the alien. She was Nar'gellan to be exact and it’s
the Nar'gellans that are threatening to wipe us out. That big ugly
one we all saw on the TV two weeks ago, that’s Macktidas and he’s
the king or ruler or general or whatever he calls himself, but he’s
in charge and he wants
me
.’

‘Why?’ Kris asked suddenly, instantly
dragging all eyes in the room onto her sullen face.

Max paused
in response, not because he was unsure of how to
answer, but now as Kris looked directly back at him, he saw full on
the darkening shadows around her eyes, evidencing the deep depths
of her internal pain. Something was torturing Kris and it wounded
Max to see it, but this was not the time or the place to deal with
it. Instead, Max quelled his concerns and vowed to make amends as
soon as the spotlight shifted from himself.

‘
Because I’m the last link to the previous
royal family that
Macktidas murdered to gain control of the Nar’gellan race,’
Max replied. ‘While I’m alive, Macktidas can’t claim full
leadership.’

‘
So, not only are you half alien, but
you’re also some sort of alien prince or something?’ Kris
pushed.

‘
Yes,’ Max said directly. ‘My mother was
the queen
and her
partner was the king. They had three offspring. Two males and a
female, but Macktidas killed them all to gain the throne. Everyone
except my mother’

‘
And I assume she survived by escaping to
Earth?’ Joe asked.

‘
Yes,’ Max answered, turning his gaze to
him. ‘She ran hard and fast and came here, knowing she needed to
give birth to a new heir to keep the blood line alive. If she died
without another child, Macktidas would become the undisputed ruler
of the Nar'gellans
and
nothing could stop him from unleashing death on countless innocent
races across the universe.’

‘
Why?’ Kris asked. ‘Why
does he want to just kill
everyone?’

This time
Max paused to consider what to say
next.

‘
I will tell you what I know,’ he answered,
‘and by that I mean I will tell you everything that my mother told
me, but I don’t have all the details, so I’ll do the best I
can.’

Kris nodded.

‘
A long time ago, the Nar'gellans were
enslaved and after many generations, they fought their way out of
captivity to gain existence in their own right. Their fight from
slavery was credited to one family and that family’s blood line has
remained intact and on the throne until my family was murdered.
Over the centuries, the Nar'gellan race prospered, mainly as a
military force for hire helping other enslaved and captive races
gain freedom. It all sounds very noble and all, but considering
what I knew of my mother and her nature, I believe it. She was as
noble a creature as you’ll ever find. Anyway, the Nar’gellans were
happy doing what they did, but Macktidas is a war monger and he
knew that the Nar'gellan species had evolved to be a fighting force
in the universe and that if he usurped power, nothing would stand
in his way for ultimate power. You’ve all seen the videos of his
foot soldiers attacking me, so I guess you can imagine what a whole
army of millions of them would be like? ’

‘
If they’
re anything like
you
,’ Joe said, ‘then yes, my imagination can easily conjure
up an all conquering race.’

A few nods around the room
added support to Joe’s
words.

‘
From what my mother told me,’ Max
continued, ‘Macktidas’ only desire in life is to fight, kill and
dominate everything and now that he’s got a whole race of elite
warriors at his bidding, he can waltz around the universe doing
exactly that, plundering as he goes. God knows how many beings and
entire races he’s killed off in the thirty plus years he’s been in
charge and now he’s lining up humanity as his next
target.’

Joe
took his pipe from his mouth and spoke again. ‘Max, you
speak of your parents in past tense,’ he said, ‘and there is
certainly no trace of either your mother or father in the civil
records, so…’

‘Where are they?’ Max interrupted.

‘
Yes,’ Joe replied carefully. ‘Where are
they?’

Max mused for a moment as his mother’s face
filled his mind. It had been several years since he had seen
her.

‘She’s gone,’ Max finally said as he shifted
his gaze from space back to the Prime Minister’s face, ‘and
probably dead. She up and left me five years ago and I haven’t seen
or heard from her since.’

‘Why do you think she has passed away?’

‘
She told me when she left that Macktidas
was getting closer and she had to take his attention away from me,
so she took off, hoping to distract Macktidas. Now that he’s found
me, I figure Macktidas found her first, got my location out of her
and probably killed her as soon as he could. I couldn’t imagine
Macktidas being merciful.’

Joe nodded and placed his pipe back
between his teeth. ‘And your father?’ Joe asked.

‘
No idea,’ Max shot straight back as he
looked down at his feet. ‘Never met him and my mother never spoke
of him either, except to say that she was thankful for all he had
given her and that I would never know him.’

‘Why?’ Kris asked. ‘Why couldn’t you ever
meet him? Did your mother and him break up?’

‘
No. They were never together,’ Max said,
looking up to Kris. ‘When my mother escaped from Macktidas, she
came to Earth in Nar’gellan form knowing she had to find a mate and
bear a child, but in her alien form, that was never going to work
out. So, how she did it, I don’t really know, but she changed her
appearance to look human. I think she had some sort of biogenetic
drug that transformed her somehow on the outside, but inside she
was still all Nar’gellan. Like I said, I don’t really know how she
did it, but she did and she landed a mate as well. My father and
then she left him. Straight away. She got what she needed and was
always thankful for it, but she didn’t need him and as it turns
out, I didn’t either.’

‘
That explains a good many things about our
situation,’ Joe said as
he removed his pipe from his mouth and inspected the
polished wooden surface, rubbing the bowl with his thumb. ‘Your
story is indeed truly remarkable and I thank you for sharing it
with us. However, if you will allow me to strike off on a tangent
for a moment, may I ask a question regarding the duels?’

Max nodded once and Joe returned the
gesture.

‘
If Macktidas wants to assure undisputed
claim to the throne, then I imagine he will want to kill you with
his bare hands? Is that a fair assumption?’

Max nodded
.

Joe paused and slowly spun his pipe in his
hand as he pondered. ‘That being the case, why then has
Macktidas demanded
three
bouts? Which bout would
he
enter because if he enters the
first and loses, why conduct the remaining bouts and then on the
other hand, if Macktidas waits till either the second or third
bouts, he runs the risk of you being killed by someone or something
else before he gets the chance, which would defeat his purpose of
killing you himself. The logic escapes me.’

‘
Th
is is really only a guess, Joe,’ Max replied, ‘but I expect
Macktidas to save himself for the third bout because that’s how I
would do it. He’ll probably watch the first two bouts to identify
my strengths and weaknesses and then exploit them in the third
bout. Macktidas also knows I’m half Nar'gellan and I doubt he’ll
underestimate me because of that fact alone. After all, he did see
me beat up a lot of his lackeys, so he knows I’ve got some skills.
He’ll probably also place opponents in the first two bouts with
different skill sets to make sure he gets a rounded look at what
I’m capable of and ensure he doesn’t miss anything for when it’s
his turn to come at me.’

‘
Those are interesting assumptions,’ Joe
returned, ‘and you seem sure of yourself in making them. Without
being disrespectful, why so assertive?’

‘
Like I said, that’s how I would do
it.’

Joe nodded slowly, falling quiet as he
carefully replace
d his
pipe between his lips.

‘
And if you
do
win,’ Kris started, ‘and Macktidas is dead, do you really
think his aliens will leave us alone?’

‘
Yes,’ Max replied quickly and firmly. ‘My
mother taught me that a Nar’gellan’s word is unbreakable. They may
love to fight, but if nothing else, they’re honourable, and that
means Macktidas too. If a Nar’gellan makes a promise or a pact,
it’s a locked in deal, so do I think they will leave us alone if I
win? Yes. Absolutely.’

‘
Again, if you
do
win,’ Joe asked, his piercing eyes squinting, ‘do
you imagine that opens the door for
you
to reclaim the Nar'gellan throne for your bloodline?
Would
you
become
king?’

‘
I doubt it. I can
’t imagine the Nar’gellans want a half-breed on
the throne, but then again, it doesn’t matter. I don’t want it. My
family is here and I’m not going anywhere,’ Max said, looking to
Elsa who smiled in return.

Silence settled in the
room
. Max waited for
more questions. The distant chop-chop of a helicopter sounded
through the thick glass of the windows and French doors. The
silence grew.