D. MacHale - The Pilgrims of Rayne

(CONTINUED)

Genj panicked.

“Get my people out of there!” he screamed. “Pull them back. We’ll throw ourselves on their mercy. They won’t slaughter us! Not if we surrender. I’ll speak to their leader. I’ll reason with him. His terms may be harsh, but we will survive. We must survive. I will contact him and-“

“Genj!” I interrupted. “He wants to destroy Ibara. Nothing you can say will change that.”

“But what choice do we have?” the man said, red faced. “This is suicide!”

He might have been right, but I wasn’t ready to give up. Not yet, anyway. I walked back to the map and stared at it. An idea had been forming for a while. It would be an act of desperation. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but somehow I knew it would. It always did.

“We cannot hold back another attack, Pendragon,” Alder said calmly.

I ran to the window to see the progress of the next wave of dados. They had entered the bay and were moving slowly, cautiously. They had learned from their mistakes. That was okay by me. We needed all the time we could get.

“There’s a chance,” I said quickly. “But we have to commit now or there won’t be enough time.”

“Whatever it is, let’s do it!” Siry announced with confidence. “We’ve been through too much to give up now.”

“What do you suggest, Pendragon,” Alder asked.

“Siry, how many crates of tak are left?”

“Three,” he answered quickly. “They’re at the base of the mountain.”

I faced the group and said, “You’re right, Genj. Leaving the archers out there is suicide. Alder, get everyone back. Take twenty or so archers and set up on the fourth line of defense.” I pointed to the line we had drawn that was halfway between the mountain and the beach. “Get everyone else into the mountain. Everyone. The battle is over for them. Send runners down and evacuate the tunnel.”

“Pendragon,” Alder said worriedly. “We cannot hold back a fresh invasion for long with only twenty archers.”

“You won’t have to. Let the dados land, and come forward. But stop them here.” I stabbed my finger on the map ahead of where the underground tunnel was located. “You don’t have to put on a massive defense. Just keep them from advancing beyond this point. The more dados that join them from the rear, the better.”

Alder stared at the map, trying to understand my thinking. A second later I saw the light go on. He smiled and said, “It might work.”

“What might work?” Siry asked, frustrated. “What am I missing?”

“We’re gonna let ‘em come,” I answered. “Pack ‘em in. The more the merrier. The last sound they’ll hear is a very big boom.”

Siry’s eyes went wide when he figured it out. “We’re going to blow up the rest of the tak down in the tunnel,” he gasped.

“Right under their robot butts,” I confirmed.

Genj and the ladies exchanged concerned looks. “It sounds dangerous,” Drea said.

“Sounds dangerous?” I laughed. “It’s insane!” I looked to Siry and Alder. “If you’re with me, say so now, because we don’t have much time.”

Siry quickly shouted, “Are you kidding? Let’s do it.”

“I will find the runners,” Alder said, and started for the door.

I hurried after him and stopped him just as he was about to leave. “You can’t be anywhere near the trap when I spring it, but I have no way of letting you know when it’s going to go”

“Do not worry, Pendragon. I will make sure we keep our distance. But how will you explode the tak?”

I shrugged, “Haven’t gotten that far yet.”

Alder gave me a quick hug and said, “I know I have said this before, but I am proud that you are the lead Traveler.”

“And I’m glad you talked me into letting you come here. Go!”

Alder took off running. I went back to the tribunal. “You’ll be safe up here. Everyone in the mountain should be safe. If this fails, get out. Take everyone that’s left and get out. Go to the far side of the island. Find the others and leave. Take fishing boats. Take anything that floats, but get away. Whatever happens do not let Saint Dane get to you. You people are now the pilgrims of Rayne.”

Genj nodded. He got it. The poor guy looked pale. Drea and Moman didn’t look so hot either.

“Thank you” Genj said.

“I’m counting on you to survive/’ I told him.”The future of Veelox is yours.”

“And yours,”he added.

I grabbed my black dado rod, put it through the back of my shirt to free my hands, and headed for the door. Siry was right behind me. Timing would be everything. We had to be ready when the dados marched into the trap. We ran down the stone steps to the base of the mountain. The large ground-level cavern was being used as a makeshift battlefield hospital. Bodies of wounded archers were being carried in and placed on the floor. I was actually happy to hear them groaning. It meant they were still alive. Several runners tended to the wounded, bringing them water or bandaging up wounded limbs. One woman was working exceptionally hard.

“Telleo!” I called out. “I thought you were on the far side of the island.”

“I’m more valuable here. This is insane, Pendragon. Is the battle over?”

“It will be soon. We’re going to end it.” “Will you surrender?”

“Nah. We’re setting up a little welcome gift for our guests. Should be a real blast. That’s a joke.” She didn’t laugh. Neither did Siry.

“Be careful,” she said, and went back to helping the wounded.

Careful? That was an even better joke. The two of us ran to the far corner of the cavern, where a runner guarded the last three crates of explosives. We each lifted one of the heavy, square crates and lugged it toward the stairs that led to the tunnels below. The word to evacuate had already been given. We had to push our way past the stream of archers that climbed up and out. Their eyes were wide and frightened.

They were all too happy to get out of that tunnel. They looked shell shocked. Or tak shocked.

Between lugging the heavy crates and fighting against the stream of retreating archers, it was slow going. A couple of times I got jostled and nearly dropped the crate. That would have been messy. Finally the archers thinned out, and Siry and I had a clear path.

“How will we know when to set off the tak?” he asked as we shuffled along.

“We should hear the battle sounds above us. As soon as that starts, we’ll know the dados have arrived.”

“And how do we set off the explosion?”

I didn’t answer him. I didn’t think he’d want to hear what I had in mind.

“Pendragon?” Siry insisted. He did want to know.

“It’s easy to explode tak,” I answered. “The trick is to be somewhere else when it goes off.”

“So?”

“So I won’t be. Somewhere else, I mean.” “What!” Siry exclaimed. He stopped short and put his crate down.

I put my own crate down. “There’s no way you’re going to understand this, because I don’t either. Saint Dane told me the Travelers are illusions. The more I see, the more I think he wasn’t lying.”

Siry’s response was to stare at me dumbly. No big surprise.

“I’ve killed Saint Dane and he didn’t die,” I said. “He killed Loor and somehow she came back from the dead.”

“But my father is dead. And what about all the others who died?”

“I don’t think they’re gone. At least not entirely.” “That makes no sense,” Siry cried. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know/’ I answered.”There’s so much about Halla we don’t know. Who created the flumes? What power controls them? How can Saint Dane do the things he does? He’s a Traveler. We’re Travelers. We may be more like him than we know. I don’t think Travelers can die, at least not the way we think of it.”