The Soldiers of Halla (22 page)

“I'm sorry” was all I could say. I didn't think it could even begin to help him feel better.

Elli looked sick, and I didn't think it was because of the
canned peaches. She had retreated into herself, hugging her waist in a way that looked as if she were trying to protect herself. As we sat there, I realized there was something we had to talk about. Neither of them were going to like it, but I didn't see any way around it.

“Mark, this is Elli. She's the Traveler from Quillan.”

Mark looked up and nodded politely. I wondered how long it was going to take for him to connect the dots. He smiled at her, then his face went blank. The smile was gone. The dots had been connected in about three-point-two seconds.

“Elli Winter?” he asked, to confirm.

Elli nodded.

“Nevva's mother,” Mark stated flatly.

I had to cut in. “This is Mark Dimond, Elli. He's been my friend since we were kids. We grew up together on Second Earth.”

“I know,” Elli said, her voice cracking. “You're the one my daughter's been manipulating.”

“She's been manipulating a lot of people,” Mark shot back.

I wasn't sure if he was angry or hurt. I also didn't know how he would relate to Elli, knowing that her daughter had threatened to kill his parents and generally made his life miserable. It was a tense moment. I didn't know what to say to diffuse it.

Elli took care of it for me.

“I'm sorry, Mark,” she said kindly. “I've heard a lot about you and how you were tricked into helping Nevva. If I could undo the things my daughter has done, I would. It's why we're here.”

Mark shot me a questioning look.

“It's true,” I said. “We're scrambling, Mark. I thought Elli might be able to get through to her daughter.”

“And do what?” Mark asked sharply.

“I don't know,” I answered lamely. “Make her see reason. Show her another side to this whole thing. Maybe even shame her into acting like a human.”

“There's nothing human about that witch,” Mark spat. “She's heartless.”

Elli winced.

Mark stood up, throwing back his chair. It clattered to the floor as he walked away from us. I went after him.

“Whoa,” I said, heading him off. I got close to him, speaking softly but with intensity. Elli didn't need to hear what I was saying.

“I hear you,” I said. “I know she's a witch. There are worse words to use. Nobody knows that better than I do, except for you. But Elli isn't Nevva. She's a Traveler.”

“So what? Nevva's a Traveler too.”

I thought about getting into the whole thing about Elli being Nevva's natural mother, but that would have meant explaining to Mark about Solara and the fact that none of the Travelers were actually from their home territories. I figured he had enough to deal with.

“I know. Nevva's a traitor. You get no arguments from me. But there were times, you said so yourself, that Nevva showed there might be more going on with her. Remember when she forced you into giving up your ring?”

“She threatened to kill my parents.”

“Right, and when you gave it to her, you said she was disappointed, like she'd wanted you to fight for it. Saint Dane wanted that ring. Her mission was to get it. But she was disappointed when you gave it up.”

“Yeah.” Mark sniffed. “Because she probably wanted to kill my parents.”

“Or maybe she was having second thoughts. I've seen it too, Mark. There might be some humanity in there somewhere. I figured if anybody could find it, it would be her mother.”

Mark glanced over at Elli, who sat staring at the table.

“We have to do something, Mark,” I continued. “Your friend died trying to get back here to tell you an attack was coming. If those Ravinians are coming after you and the rest of your friends, that's bad enough. But if Saint Dane knows where the rest of the exiles are, the ball game's over. It's all about the exiles, Mark. They are the last, best hope to save Halla.”

“Why? How?” he asked.

“I can explain it all to you, but I think it would only make things more confusing. It'd be a lot easier if you just believe me. We have to find those people. We have to make sure they're safe. That includes you and your friends. I think Elli gives us a shot at doing that. I don't know how else to say it to you. It may be desperate, but it's the only thing I can think of doing.”

“So you're just going to walk up to the gates of that fortress and ask if Nevva can come out and play?”

“I don't know. I haven't figured that part out.”

Mark looked at me and nodded thoughtfully. “Did you find Courtney?” he asked.

“No” was my quick answer.

“She might be with the rest,” he said hopefully.

“Maybe. I hope so. There are a lot of them out there, Mark. We have to find them and protect them.”

I couldn't tell if I was getting through to him or not. I
was asking him to take a lot on faith. He had trusted me since we were kids. I hoped he wouldn't stop.

Mark took a tired breath and walked away from me, headed toward Elli. I watched nervously, not sure of where his head was or what he was planning to do. He knelt down next to her and put his elbow on the table.

“I'm sorry for saying those things about your daughter,” he said with sincerity.

Elli couldn't bring herself to look at him. “Don't be,” she replied. “They're true.”

“When I thought I lost my mother and father, it made me do things I might not ordinarily have done.”

“Nevva
did
lose hers,” Elli replied sadly.

Mark nodded. “I know how important it was for me to get them back. Maybe it's time to let Nevva have her mother back.”

That struck Elli. Her gaze lifted from the table. She looked Mark in the eye. He smiled warmly. Elli gave me a hopeful look, then touched Mark's cheek. “I'm sure your mother is very proud of you.”

It looked to me as if Mark's eyes were filling with tears.

“She was,” he said. “I miss them.”

“I can't guarantee that Nevva misses me.”

Mark held her hand and said, “Let's find out.”

He stood up and faced me. “I can get you inside the conclave,” he announced. “There's only one catch.”

“What's that?”

“I'm going with you.”

T
he plan was to get some sleep and leave before dawn.

I had been going nonstop for who knows how long, and my tank was empty. Two rooms were set up for sleeping on the second floor of the grimy garage. One for men, the other for women. They each had single-mattress beds lined up along the walls. It wasn't exactly cush, but it was far better than what the Batu had at Mooraj. At first I was reluctant to take one of the cots, thinking I'd be displacing somebody. That is, until I remembered that there were a bunch of people who wouldn't be coming back to sleep there that night. Unfortunately, there was plenty of room.

I made sure that Elli was set up and comfortable in the room they had for women. She was there along with three others. They saw to it that she had everything she needed, which wasn't much. Soon Elli was off to sleep. At least, I thought she was. She may have just been closing her eyes, so as not to have to deal with reality. Elli hadn't said much since we'd arrived on Third Earth. I hoped she was up to the task in front of us. In front of
her
. If she wasn't, our trip was for nothing.

When I finally settled into my own bed, Mark was waiting for me. He wanted answers. The thought of explaining the realities of Halla and Solara to him made me shudder. How would he react to it all? Getting Mark to understand and accept it was a job I didn't look forward to. All I wanted to do was sleep.

But he needed to understand why our mission to protect the exiles was so important. Heck, he was an exile himself, and he'd been part of this war as long as I had. He deserved something.

“I know it all now, Mark,” I said as we sat facing each other on our beds. “Everything. Though I'm not sure how to explain it to you.”

“Give it a shot,” he said without hesitation. He didn't care that I was exhausted. I didn't blame him.

I racked my brain, trying to come up with the simplest explanation possible.

“There's life beyond our own,” I began. “Spiritual life. The spirit that lives in every person doesn't die when their body does. It moves on and becomes part of a bigger reality that reflects our own.”

Mark looked at me like I had just said cows could fly.

“Okay…,” he said with a huge dose of skepticism.

“I saw Uncle Press again. And Kasha. And Osa.”

“They're dead,” he said flatly.

“The physical beings they were when they were living in Halla are dead. Their spirit continues on in a place called Solara.”

“An eleventh territory?”

“No, it's way more cosmic than that. It's been about Solara from the beginning. Saint Dane is trying to control it. To destroy its spirit. Once he does that, Halla doesn't matter
anymore, because he can create his own physical universe. His own Halla.”

Mark frowned. “Uh…what?”

“Yeah, this is where it starts getting complicated.”

“Starts? I'd say we're already pretty far down that path.”

I shrugged. What could I say?

“You're serious about this?” Mark asked tentatively.

I nodded. “That was a way simple explanation, but yeah.”

“So why are the exiles so important that Saint Dane wants them dead?”

“Because after all that happened to Halla, after the dismantling of so many societies and civilizations, they're the last remaining group of people who stood up to Ravinia. To Saint Dane. When they were shot off of Second Earth, it was like they were taken out of the loop. They didn't experience the downfall of their own world. It was like Saint Dane inadvertently protected them, and now it's their collective spirit that is keeping him from his final victory. The collective spirit of the exiles is keeping Solara alive. Remember how Saint Dane kept talking about Denduron being the first domino to fall? The exiles are the
last
domino. If they are destroyed, Solara will be his.”

“So, if the Ravinians hadn't sent us all into exile, Saint Dane would have won by now?”

“Pretty much. It was the biggest mistake he made. Now he's trying to correct it.”

“And we're counting on it to come back and bite him in the butt.”

“Exactly. The Travelers were sent out to find the remaining exiles and protect them. You're one of them, Mark. Courtney too.”

“Okay, say you find the other exiles. Then what?”

“Then we move on Saint Dane here. On Third Earth.”

Mark's eyes lit up. “
That
I understand.”

“I thought you would.”

“You think Elli can convince Nevva to help somehow?”

I rubbed my eyes. It was a point-blank question. I had to give him an answer that was just as direct.

“No. I don't. Nevva's hard-core. But who knows what'll happen when she sees her mother? It might get through to her somehow.”

“Don't count on it,” he grumbled.

“I hear you, but I'll try anything. I don't want to say that I'm desperate but…I'm desperate.”

“Is it worth the risk? Going in there, I mean. You saw what happened to Antonio.”

“I did, and it's another reason I want to get to Nevva. Antonio said there was an attack coming. If Saint Dane knows where the exiles are, they're dead and Halla is lost. We need to find out what's going on and try to scuttle it.”

Mark nodded. I knew he was running Antonio's final words over in his head. I'd done it a hundred times myself.

“If he's building more gunships to go after the exiles,” Mark said, thinking aloud, “it means they're probably here on Third Earth.”

“That's what I was thinking.”

“Are there really seventy thousand of us?” he asked.

“Saint Dane created a massive flume in the middle of a packed Yankee Stadium that sucked them all inside. Seventy thousand might be light.”

Mark's eyes went wide. I figured he was trying to imagine the event. I, on the other hand, preferred to forget it.

Mark said, “It's easier to imagine that whole Solara-spirit
thing than to picture Yankee Stadium being sucked down a drain. Yikes.”

We looked at each other, and laughed. It was totally inappropriate, but it broke the tension. For a second it felt like old times, when Mark and I would hang out for hours and talk about anything that came into our heads. It didn't last long.

Mark clapped his hands on his knees and stood up. “I'll send my guys out in a chopper at first light. If there are seventy thousand people hiding out somewhere, we'll find them.”

“I don't know,” I said skeptically. “It took Saint Dane a while.”

“Yeah,” he said slyly. “But we know where to look.”

He strode for the door, then stopped and turned back, as if he had a new thought. He squinted, which was something Mark always did when he was having trouble understanding something. I liked those small, familiar moments. It meant that beneath that hardened exterior, my friend was still lurking around somewhere.

“The flumes were destroyed, right?” he asked.

“Every last one of 'em.”

“So how did you and Elli get here? And how are the other Travelers getting around?”

“We don't need the flumes anymore. The Travelers can go wherever we want, anytime. But we have to be careful, because each time we do, it depletes more of the power of Solara.”

Mark stared at me, still squinting. We stayed like that for a few seconds. I think he went into brain lock. What I had just said went beyond his comprehension. He finally shook his head and said, “Forget I asked.”

“Forgotten.”

He didn't move. Something else was on his mind. I hoped he wasn't going to ask me any more questions about Solara.

“What's the matter?” I asked. “Besides everything?”

Mark hesitated, choosing his words carefully. “I feel like, one way or another, this is it. I mean, it's finally going to be over, isn't it?”

“It is. One way or another.”

He nodded. “I'm glad we're back together, Bobby.”

“Me too.”

“Courtney should be here.”

“We'll find her,” I said with confidence, but absolutely no authority.

He pulled himself out of there. I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes, hoping for sleep to come quickly. As usual, it didn't. My mind was too full of clashing thoughts, most of which were about what would happen the next day. I'd been on plenty of adventures since becoming a Traveler. My journals are loaded with the tales. It had become a way of life. A crazy way of life, but what can you do? That was the way it was meant to be. This time was different. Of all the things I've been through, either alone or with another Traveler, we were always able to take care of ourselves. More or less.

Not this time. Mark and I were setting out on what could be a suicide mission…with an older woman on our team. The closest I'd come to that was with Gunny, but he could take care of himself. Heck, he could handle himself better than I could. Elli was a different story. She was smart and resilient, no question there. But she was fragile. Physically and emotionally. I wasn't so much worried about something bad happening to her. After all, she was a Traveler. But
we were going to have to move fast and react to constantly changing threats. Doing that with an older, fragile woman was going to be tricky.

Making it worse was the fact that Mark would be with us. He wasn't a Traveler. He could die. Like
really
die. And he was an exile. I had to make sure that Mark survived the ordeal…while watching out for Elli, and oh by the way, staying alive myself. Suddenly my plan didn't seem like such a hot one.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep much that night.

But I did get to sleep. Finally. My body and my brain needed it. I probably could have slept for days, but all we could afford was a couple of hours. Mark got me up before daybreak.

“Come on” was all he had to say.

I was up and ready to go in seconds. I followed him quickly and quietly, trying not to wake the other guys who slept in the beds around us. Elli waited for us in the garage near the helicopters. She had changed into nondescript gray pants and a black shirt. Standard wear for Third Earth. She stood stiffly, with her arms still wrapped around her waist. Her long gray hair was pulled back tight, out of the way. I'm not sure if it was the way her hair was, or the light, but for the first time I saw the resemblance between her and Nevva. She stood up straight. Her eyes were alert. Just like her daughter. They were definitely blood relatives.

I still had on my Second Earth clothes, and Mark had on the same raggedy pants and shirt I'd seen him wear the day he rescued those people from the building in the zoo. That seemed like years ago. For all I knew, it
was
years ago. I'd lost all sense of time.

Mark had three short, jet-black guns that looked like
miniature shotguns. The single barrels were wide. Beneath each was a thick, round disk where, I assumed, the ammunition was stored. Not that I was an expert, but it was like no gun I'd ever seen.

“These were stolen from the fortress,” Mark explained. “It fires some sort of burst of charged particles. It's enough to knock a big guy off his feet, but it won't kill him. What it kills are dados. One shot and they go cold.”

He kept one and gave one each to Elli and me. I held the weapon up, admiring it.

“I love this,” I said in awe.

“I've never fired a weapon in my life,” Elli said, holding the gun as if it were diseased.

“Be sure to hold the stock tight against your body, or the recoil might hurt you,” Mark explained. “Each has ten shots. After that, it's done. We don't have reloads.”

Elli looked sick. I wasn't even sure she knew which end to point at a dado. I took the gun from her.

“It's okay. You won't have to do any shooting,” I assured her.

She looked relieved. Not relaxed, but relieved. I hadn't fired many guns either, but to be honest, the idea of nailing a couple of dados appealed to me. I didn't want to go looking for one, but if I had one in my sights, I didn't think I'd have any trouble pulling the trigger. The guns had shoulder straps, so I slung both weapons over my back.

“What's the plan?” I asked Mark.

He led us out of the garage to where one of the other exiles, a girl with red hair and freckles, named Maddie, was waiting behind the wheel of an ancient yellow taxi. She didn't look any older than sixteen. I wondered if she had her driver's license, though I doubted if anybody checked
anymore. Just so long as she knew how to drive, I didn't care. We hurried into the backseat, slammed the door, and Maddie hit the gas. With a lurch we were off and flying. Fast. She knew how to drive.

Mark explained, “We have to get to the insert point before the sun comes up. Moving cars in daylight draw attention.”

“Insert point?” I asked.

“The city is honeycombed with ancient tunnels,” Mark said. “At all levels. They carried subways, sewage, electricity, pretty much everything that made a city work and that nobody wanted to see. There's a whole city below this city that most people never saw.”

“It's still intact?” I asked.

“Most of it collapsed when the fireworks started. That's what they tell me, anyway. But the deeper tunnels survived, and we have maps. They're like gold. It's how everybody moves around without being seen by Ravinians.”

“People live underground?” Elli asked.

“Some do, but mostly the tunnels are used as highways. There's a service tunnel that runs directly beneath the Ravinian fortress. They have no idea it exists. We don't use it that often, because we don't want to risk it being discovered and ruining the one advantage we have over them. But every once in a while we stage a quiet raid, like the one that got these guns. We're able to get right under their noses without them knowing.”

Elli asked, “Is that how Antonio got to the fortress?”