D. MacHale - The Pilgrims of Rayne

“Pendragon?” Siry asked, his voice quivering. “Who is that guy?”

“He’s the reason we’re here,” I answered calmly.

“Look!” he screamed, pointing to a monitor.

On-screen, floating against the white background, was a pair of intense, blue eyes. Evil eyes. Above them red jagged scars appeared. Then the outline of a face. Finally the image snapped clear and he was there. Saint Dane. He was only an image in a monitor, but it was like he could see us. Another of his images appeared on the monitor next to that one. And the next one and the next. Soon Saint Dane’s hideous face was staring at us a thousand times over. Siry didn’t know which way to turn. Everywhere he looked, he saw the demon Traveler.

“The Convergence is near, Pendragon,” his voice boomed from the speakers. “I couldn’t care less about this pathetic, primitive society. I’ve simply chosen Ibara to be my starting point.”

“What does he mean?” Siry asked nervously.

I kept my calm and looked around at the multiple monitors. I wasn’t sure which one to focus on, though I guessed it didn’t matter. Saint Dane would know I was talking to him.

“I don’t believe that,” I said loudly. “Nothing you do is random. You need Ibara as much as any territory. We’ve got another chance, and this time we’re going to win.”

The images of Saint Dane laughed in unison. It chilled me. I couldn’t imagine how Siry felt about it.

“I applaud your confidence,” he chuckled. “I always have. Your bravura is charming but hardly plausible. Forgive me if I don’t feel threatened by someone who until recently didn’t know what territory he was on.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I spat back, pacing, staring into his eyes from monitor to monitor. “I know how you operate. You’ve convinced the Flighters to attack Ibara. But it’s a waste of time. Their defenses are too strong. Aja made sure of that. Yeah, a handful of Flighters might get onto the island, but that’s not enough to do any real damage. Ibara is strong. The culture there is returning. Your victory here was temporary. We’re going to take back Veelox.”

I had no idea if any of that was true, but it sounded good. All I really wanted was to goad Saint Dane into tipping his hand and revealing his true plan.

“Pendragon,” Saint Dane said with mock patience, “as usual, you know only enough to sound like a fool.”

“Then show me how I’m wrong. Dazzle me with your brilliance.”

I saw a thousand faces of the demon looking back at me from a thousand monitors. “You’ve grown full of yourself,” he chuckled. “Your many victories have given you a feeling of… invincibility.”

“You’ve won two territories,” I shot right back. “The way it’s looking now, one of them is coming back to haunt you. It’s over. Halla is not going to fall. You’ve lost. The people of the territories were too strong for you. Things are going to play out the way they were meant to.”

“I’m curious,” Saint Dane sniffed. “What makes you so certain the way things were meant to be isn’t my way?”

His words rocked me. I tried not to show it. “I don’t believe that,” I snarled. “If the Flighters had any chance of conquering Ibara, they would have done it a long time ago. How long has it been since the island was settled? Decades? A century?”

Saint Dane laughed. “Hardly. In Second Earth years, Rubic City has been abandoned for over three centuries.” Yikes. Long time.

“Three hundred years,” I repeated. “Ibara was growing stronger the whole time. The Flighters don’t stand a chance.”

Saint Dane laughed. I hated that, as usual.

“You disappoint me, Pendragon. You should know that time means nothing. It’s about decisions, opportunities, and turning points. Ibara is about to reach its turning point, and you still don’t have the slightest idea of what it might be.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have to. He knew how clueless I was.

“Enter the pyramid,” Saint Dane commanded. “Bring your befuddled young Traveler friend. It’s a shame his father will not be here to appreciate what you’re about to see. Though I suppose that’s my own fault for having killed him.”

I shot a look to Siry. His eyes flashed. His spark was back. Saint Dane’s words were turning him into a Traveler.

“I’ll kill him,” Siry hissed through clenched teeth.

“Keep it together,” I cautioned. “This is only the beginning.”

I could feel Siry’s tension. His hatred. Saint Dane had made an enemy. I wasn’t sure if that was good, or something that Saint Dane wanted. I wasn’t sure of anything except that we needed to learn more. If Saint Dane wanted to show us, that was okay by me.

“Enter the pyramid, Pendragon,” Saint Dane’s images said. “And step into the future.”

“You can’t predict the future of Ibara,” I said boldly.

“Ibara? I’m referring to the future of Halla,” was his cold answer.

(CONTINUED)

Come on,” I said to Siry, gently grabbing his arm.

Siry let me lead him, but he felt like a coiled spring. I figured that might be helpful, but not just then. I pulled him out of the workstation and walked along the glass corridor toward the center of the pyramid. Saint Dane’s images watched us from thousands of monitors, softly chuckling. It was like being in a surreal fun house where the clown from hell was having a lot more fun than we were.

“We’re going into the center of the pyramid,” I told Siry. “Where all the jump tubes are. Whatever is inside, it’s something Saint Dane wants us to see.”

“Why should we do anything he wants?”

“To find out what his plans are. Stay alert. At some point we’re going to have to get away. Do as I say and don’t hesitate.”

Siry nodded. I pushed open the door at the end of the core, and the two of us stepped into the immense center of Lifelight. I’m amazed to say that the space didn’t look much different from when I had been there before. Three centuries before. The interior was a huge, cavernous space with multiple balconies built along the sloping walls. The floor had to be the size of two football fields next to one another. The sides were built at a steep angle that eventually came to a point high in the sky-the point of the pyramid. Access to the hundreds of balconies was from a central tube with an elevator that went from the floor all the way to the top of the pyramid. There were hundreds of catwalks that spanned the distance from the tube out to the various levels. I had walked along one of those narrow sky bridges. The memory made my palms sweat. It was the closest I ever came to walking a tightrope.

Each balcony had thousands of rooms that contained the Lifelight jump tubes. From the floor I could look up and see many of the closed doors, just as I remembered. Only this time, no lights were lit outside the doors to indicate a jump was taking place. This was no longer Lifelight. It was a mausoleum. After so many years the jumpers would be nothing more than skeletons. Or dust. The idea that we were looking up at the graves of multiple thousands of people sent a chill up my spine.

I glanced at Siry. He was in awe, though I didn’t think he really got the idea of Lifelight or that this had become a place of the dead. It didn’t matter. That was ancient history. Looking across the floor, I realized it wasn’t the sheer size of the place that stunned Siry. There was something else. Something far more disturbing. Standing maybe twenty yards from us, with his arms folded, was Saint Dane. In the flesh. Or whatever it is he’s made out of. Seeing him there, alone, unmoving, made my skin crawl. He was in his normal form, standing well over six feet tall with his all-black suit. The dark suit made his bald head stand out even more starkly. As far away as he was, I could see that he was smiling and staring at us with his cold eyes.