The Soldiers of Halla (43 page)

My goal was to get back to the council meeting and give them one last warning about the army that was about to arrive on their doorstep. I hoped that maybe by showing them the flume, I'd have a little more credibility. Worst case, if they insisted on staying to defend Black Water, knowing about the flume might help set up an evacuation, if things started going badly. No, that would be
when
things started going badly. I ran over all the arguments and options in my mind. I had to be positive. I had to convince them.

It wasn't until I reached the village and almost to the center building that I realized something was wrong. There was no sound. No activity. No gars walking around. No signs of life anywhere. It was eerie. Where had everybody gone? I hoped that it was actually very late at night, and everyone was in bed asleep. I expected to have to track these people down in their homes and wake them up…

When the warning horn sounded. The steady
whoop
whoop
filled the oddly quiet village with ear-numbing sound. The wrong kind of sound. I didn't think for a second that it was a drill. I ran to the far side of the village, toward the mountains and the tunnel into the valley of waterfalls. I expected to see gars and Yanks running to their posts to man their positions.

I didn't. I was alone. Where was everybody? Maybe, I thought, they were already at their posts. It was the only explanation. But when I reached the outer ring of the village, I saw that the defensive huts were empty. There were no gars manning the radio cannons, or peering out of windows with arrows at the ready. The huts were dark and quiet.

What was going on?

My eye finally caught movement, but it only added to my confusion. I saw what looked like a pin spot of light glowing on the side of the mountain. It was maybe twenty yards up from the walkable slope, where the rock face turned sheer. It was like nothing I had seen before. Was it some new technology that was brought by the exiles? Was it a visual alarm to go with the horn? Was it an emergency beacon? I stood still, watching. Fascinated. The pin light grew. A beam shot out from the glowing spot and flashed across the sky, casting a line of light over the empty huts of Black Water. All I could do was stare in wonder. The pin spot continued to grow, spilling light onto the face of the mountain. The light became a growing circle. That's when I realized the truth. I didn't need to hear the musical notes that soon followed.

I was witnessing the birth of another flume.

Light blasted out of the circle, eating away at the rock, creating the new opening. The music arrived next, quickly growing loud and jangly. I looked back to the village to
see if any gars had come out from wherever they were to see what was going on. The village was empty. I was alone. Within a minute the hole of light had grown to thirty yards across. That's when it stopped. The enormous tunnel was complete. Even from as far away as I was, I recognized the walls of gray stone.

The highway was open.

I knew what was going to happen next.

Saint Dane wasn't going to wait until morning.

Enough light glowed from the flume so that I could see what was coming in. This tunnel stretched to another world. From deep inside, marching in step, came the first line of invaders, carrying red Ravinian flags. They marched to the mouth of the new tunnel and continued down the slope toward the village. There were more. Many more. Looking beyond them into the flume, I saw no end to them. Like a swarm of red locusts, the Ravinian army poured from the depths of infinity, bent on their deadly mission.

Saint Dane had sent his entire force to march on Black Water.

The final battle for Halla had begun.

W
ave after wave of dados marched out of the flume, headed toward the village of Black Water.

Some wore the uniform of the Ravinian soldiers. Others were dressed in the green uniform and gold helmet of the security dados from Quillan. There were even hundreds of dado klees that came pouring out. All were armed with the silver prods that could extinguish life with a single shot. Unlike the attack on Black Water by the klees, these dados weren't interested in capturing anybody for food. This was an army of execution. As far as I could tell, every dado we had seen in the factory on Third Earth had made the journey. It meant that Saint Dane was pulling out all the stops. This was his final assault. He wanted to complete his quest by destroying every last one of the exiles.

But where were they?

I watched the massive show of force pouring into Black Water from behind the safety of one of the defensive huts in the first ring of structures. Seeing so many dados confirmed my fear that there was no way the gars and Yanks would be able to hold them off for long. Depending
on how long the radio cannons had power, they could knock out a thousand, or a few thousand. But there would be a thousand more to take their place. And a thousand more after that. It was small consolation that my fears were correct. I was mesmerized by the sight of such an overwhelming force pouring from the flume.

It wasn't until I felt the hair on my arms crackle with energy that I was snapped back into the moment. One of the invaders must have seen me and fired his weapon. What the heck was I still doing there? Alone. Facing an army of thousands. With weapons. It was time to be somewhere else.

I ran back into the heart of the village, not sure if I should look for Courtney and the council, or just get back to the flume and jump to Third Earth. I ran past house after empty house. All the lights were still on, but nobody was home.

Paf! Paf!
I felt the surge of two blasts of power fly past. The dados were after me. I made a quick turn down a narrow street and was faced with two red-shirt Ravinian dados. Their weapons were up and pointed. At me. I jumped off the street as
paf
. Another shot flew by. Too close. I couldn't let myself get hit. No way. If the spirit of Solara was as good as gone, my own spirit wouldn't survive my body's death and end up back on Solara. If I got shot now, it would be over. For good. There was no more safety net. I was now running for my life.

I heard dados everywhere, yelling orders and knocking down doors in their search for the exiles. Running through the rings of structures was like sprinting through a maze. I kept changing direction, making it difficult to be tracked. Unfortunately, I outsmarted myself and got turned around. I wanted to end up at the flume, but I was dangerously close
to being lost, or accidentally circling back and ending up surrounded by dados. I kept looking up at the mountains that surrounded Black Water, trying to get my bearings. It was impossible. The mountains formed a continuous ridge. There were no particular peaks that stood out. It was like running around inside of a bowl. With every turn I kept hoping that I'd run into a gar, but the village was empty. Totally empty.

Except for one lone creature.

I rounded a corner and was met by a klee. A dado klee. The Ravinian uniform was the tip-off. The cat seemed just as surprised as I was. I froze. The klee raised its weapon. I had nowhere to run. No place for protection.

“I'm Pendragon,” I called out, hoping that it would mean something. Maybe Saint Dane wanted me taken alive. It was a desperate move…that didn't work. The klee raised its silver weapon and took aim. I dove to the ground and rolled. I wanted to make a tough target. Maybe I would get lucky. The klee brought the weapon to its eye…

And was attacked by another snarling klee. The big brown cat leaped from a window and knocked the Ravinian to the ground.

“Boon!” I called out.

I jumped to my feet and ran for the two wrestling klees.

“Don't let that thing touch you!” I warned, knowing that one touch of that silver wand and Boon would be vapor.

Boon clamped his powerful jaws on the Ravinian's neck. The klee didn't react, of course. It was a dado. But as it fought to get loose, I was able to jump forward and kick the wand out of its paw. The weapon clattered away. The klee tried to fight off Boon while reaching for it. He didn't have a chance. I grabbed the wand and screamed, “Let it go!”

Boon jumped back, and I jabbed the business end of the silver wand at the dado. It instantly stopped moving.

Boon was out of breath and wide eyed. “What's happening?” he shouted. “Where is everybody?”

“You don't know?”

Boon shook his head. “I was sleeping on the outskirts of the village. They know I'm not a threat, but I'm still a klee. So I decided to stay clear of everybody. When the alarm went off, I came back looking to see what was happening, but everybody's gone!”

“And the dados are attacking from Third Earth. We've got to get out of here.”

Boon and I took off running, but it seemed as though every way we turned, there were more dados. With nobody to stop them, the city was quickly becoming infested.

“There's another flume,” I told him. “Far to the south on the edge of the farm. But we're cut off.”

Boon grabbed my arm and yanked me in another direction. “I've got a way.”

We continued our twisting route until we got to the very center of the village and the large building that was Gar Central. Boon led me inside.

“Is there a tunnel or something?” I asked.

“No. Just the opposite.”

We hit stairs. Boon sprinted up on all fours. I had all I could do to keep up with the cat. I trusted Boon but didn't like that we were climbing up. It wouldn't be good to be trapped on the roof, with no escape route.

He said, “In the brief time that there was a truce between the gars and the klees, technology was exchanged. Things were going well, until Ravinia.”

“What kind of technology?”

We made it to the top stairs. Boon opened a door that led out onto the roof. “
That
kind,” he announced.

Sitting there, square in the middle of the roof of the large building, were three yellow gigs.

“Tell me you know how to fly,” I demanded.

“Kasha would never admit it, but I'm a better pilot than she is.”

I didn't need convincing. I pushed past him, headed for the small helicopters. Boon jumped in the pilot seat of one, while I strapped into the passenger side. Boon immediately toggled the ignition switches. The overhead rotor whined to life.

“Wait,” I exclaimed. “There's no sun. What's powering this?”

“Like I said, it's new technology,” he explained. “This is something the gars came up with. They didn't even have one back in Leeandra. The gars added a device for storing the energy. We'll have about an hour of flight time.”

That news actually made me angry. It was more proof that the gars weren't animals. The merger of the two tribes, the two species, had been a huge benefit for all the beings on Eelong. Until Ravinia.

Boon added, “Let's hope the dados don't know how to use the radio cannons.”

Oh. Right. Those things.

Boon pulled the control stick back, and we lifted off…just in time. The door leading to the roof burst open, and three Ravinian dados ran out, their weapons up and firing. I felt the ping of energy as the underside of the gig was hit. They weren't radio cannons. They couldn't stop us.

“Take us up high over the village,” I called to Boon. “I want to see what's happening.”

Boon lifted the small gig high into the night sky, directly over the dead center of the village. From there we had a perfect view of the entire valley. It was like looking down on a football game from a blimp. I saw the flume that had burned into the mountainside. Light continued to spew out, along with more dados. The numbers were incredible. The dados had pretty much filled up the entire space between the flume and the outer ring of the village. They stood poised to completely overrun the place.

Several dados ran through the streets. They must have been the advance troops. They were fast and mobile, searching for signs of life. They weren't having any luck. The village was totally empty. Boon circled around so we could scout the entire place. I wondered if the gars had built a shelter in the mountains, where they could retreat in case of an attack. That seemed like the most logical answer. Maybe Courtney had finally convinced them that the attack was inevitable, so they decided to hide instead of joining us. If that was the case, how long could they hold out? Not all the gars and exiles were candidates for fighting a war. There were kids. And babies. And older people. Would they be able to stay hidden until the dados gave up and left? It seemed like a temporary solution, at best.

“Now what?” Boon asked. “We don't have enough power to stay up here forever.”

I looked to the south and the farm. Even from as far away as we were, I could make out the dark, round shadow that I knew was the mouth of the Travelers' flume.

The gig lurched. I knew the feeling. Boon did too.

“I guess they figured out how to use the radio cannons,” I said.

“We've got to fly out of here,” Boon said, and pushed the gig forward.

The craft rocked two more times. Boon fought for control.

“That way!” I shouted, pointing toward the farm.

Boon struggled to keep the gig in the air. We spun to the right. He fought to keep us headed south.

“I've got to put it down,” he declared.

“No!” I shouted. “Keep headed south!”

“But we'll crash!”

We got hit again. The gig spun the opposite way, snapping my head to the side.

“We're going to find out just how good a pilot you are,” I called out. “Head for that hole.”

“Hole?” Boon screamed, terrified. “What hole?”

“Trust me.”

We were losing altitude fast. If we crashed, there was no guarantee we'd walk away from it. I knew we only had one chance. We had to fly the gig into the flume.

Boon spotted the flume and directed the gig toward the gaping hole. “I don't think I can put it in there without clipping the side,” he cried.

“Yes, you can. Concentrate.”

The dark hole of the flume grew larger as we got closer. We were dropping fast. The mouth of the tunnel was big enough for the gig, but Boon would have to drop it in the dead center.

“Pendragon!” he cried out.

“Do it!” I screamed.

Boon eased back on the throttle, and we dropped down. I winced, waiting for the rotor to catch the rim of the tunnel. I didn't know whether Boon was in control or we were falling.

“Third Earth!”
I screamed out over the whine of the engine.

The tunnel lit up beneath us.

“Pendragon!” Boon screamed again, this time in terror.

“Just get us close,” I called back to him.

“I've lost control!” Boon shouted.

“It's okay,” I said calmly. “You don't need it anymore.”

The rock walls around us melted into crystal. The gig twisted. Instead of falling down, we found ourselves flying forward. We were in the gig, in the flume, flying to Third Earth.

I glanced at Boon. He was looking forward, fixed on the tunnel with huge cat eyes.

“You did it,” I said.

“Did what?” he gasped. “What is this?”

“You're taking your first flume trip.”

His paw was wrapped around the control stick in a death grip. I put my hand on it and coaxed him to let go. He did reluctantly. The gig stayed upright and charged through the flume. It turned when the tunnel turned, dropping and rising with every curve. The rotors still spun, dangerously close to the edges of the tunnel. I didn't worry. I felt sure we would make it. We were surrounded by stars beyond the crystal walls. The multiple images of Halla were no longer there.

“It's beautiful,” Boon declared, finally relaxed.

“It better be. We paid a steep price for this little construction job.”

Boon gave me a puzzled look, but I didn't bother to explain.

Up ahead I saw light. We were nearing the end.

“Grab the stick,” I ordered. “When we come out, you're back in control.”

I had no way of knowing where the flume opened up on Third Earth. A sick thought hit me that if it opened in a subterranean cavern, we were in trouble. I had assumed that it would be out in the open, like the other larger flumes. But we wouldn't know until we emerged.

“Get ready,” I said. For what, I didn't know.

The light grew brighter. I held my breath. The gig flew into the light. I felt gravity take over as I was pressed back into my seat. A few seconds passed. We didn't crash into anything. That meant we were outside…and climbing fast.

“Level out!” I commanded.

We had flown out of the flume, nose first, headed skyward like a rocket. Boon took control and pressed forward. For a moment I felt weightless as we blasted over the arc and finally went level. It was a hell of a ride. My stomach was in my throat and my head felt twisted. The disorientation was complete.

“Try to hover,” I said, though it wasn't easy, because my brain was scrambled. “We need to see where we are.”

Boon wasn't suffering the same effects that I was. He masterfully kept control of the gig, stopping our forward movement. I closed my eyes, hoping that my brain would stop spinning around inside my skull.

Boon laughed.

“Don't laugh,” I said. “I feel like puking.”

“I'm not laughing at you,” Boon said. “You gotta see this.”

I cautiously opened my eyes. The first thing I realized was that it was daytime. Gray clouds traveled overhead. It looked like we were back on Third Earth.

“What am I supposed to see?” I asked.

“Down there!” he shouted.