D. MacHale - The Pilgrims of Rayne

My anger wasn’t just about the poor pilgrims. This was about Ibara. Veelox. Halla. The territory was there for Saint Dane to take. Ibara was the last holdout of civilization. There was no way it could stand up to an attack by the dados. After that, what? Where would Saint Dane go next? Second Earth? Third Earth? I’d never felt the kind of anger I was feeling at that moment. I guess a better word for it was “rage.” I wanted a piece of Saint Dane again, right there. I wanted to fight him. I wanted to take him apart.

Nobody said a word. What could they say? For the tribunal the quest was over. It was a mission that had been handed down to them by their ancestors, and it had failed miserably. It was only going to get worse.

I couldn’t let that happen. I had been forming a plan since I first saw the dados, but until that moment, I didn’t seriously consider it. It was a last-ditch act born of desperation. It was wrong. But looking down on the destruction of the pilgrim fleet, and knowing that the dados were amassing to attack Ibara made something snap in me. Yes, I was angry. Maybe it was about time. Following the proper rules that Uncle Press set out and playing fair and being the good little Traveler wasn’t working anymore. Right and wrong didn’t matter anymore. It was time to get dirty. It was time to fight back.

D. J. MacHale

The Pilgrims of Rayne

“Genj,” I said. “You can’t let this cripple you. If you do that, Ibara really will be lost.”

“We’re already lost,” he said, dazed. “It will take generations to replace those ships.”

“What’s out there, Pendragon?” Telleo asked, frightened. “Who is doing this?”

“Someone who wants to crush you,” I said. “Remudi knew that. Now he’s dead.”

“Dead?” Moman repeated, shocked. “How?”

“He died at the hands of the guy who is going to attack this island. I’m here to stop him.”

“How?” Siry asked. “The dados-“

“Gather your people together,” I ordered Genj. “Bring them to the center of town. Tell them they’re going to have to defend Rayne. They saw what happened to the pilgrims. What’s coming will be worse. We’re going to need every person in this village who can fight.”

Genj was shaken. He looked like a confused, old man. “This is… is… all wrong. So many generations have planned for this day. It just cannot be!”

I took Telleo by the arm and looked her square in the eye. “Get through to him. You’ve got to be ready when we get back.”

“Where are you going?” Telleo asked.

“Don’t even ask. It’s up to you all to make sure this village is ready to fight.”

“How long will you be gone?” Drea asked.

“Not long. Maybe a few hours. We can’t afford to be gone any longer than that.”

“What’s the point, Pendragon?” Siry asked. “We’re going to get help.”

Soon after, Siry and I ran through the village, headed for the beach. People were milling around, dazed. Many had witnessed the destruction of the pilgrim fleet. Most had no idea what it all meant. We made one stop. It was back at the tribunal hut where Telleo nursed me to health. There we gathered several small wooden canisters that contained a poison. It was harmless to us, but deadly to its intended target.

Bees.

We left the hut and quickly ran to the beach. It wasn’t difficult finding the rocky cave near the shore.

“Why are we here?” Siry asked. “I’ve been in this cave before. There’s nothing here to help us.”

I didn’t explain. He’d find out soon enough. We entered the cave and moved quickly through the labyrinth of tunnels. Whenever we came to an intersection, I looked at my Traveler ring to show me the way. The gray stone was glowing brighter with every turn. When we were about to enter the large, cathedral-like cavern where I first encountered the quig-bees, I decided not to take any chances. I motioned to Siry. He pulled a stopper out of one of the canisters and tossed it in ahead of us.

“That’s enough poison to kill a couple thousand bees,” he said.

“You better be right,” I said, and poked my head around the corner in time to see a storm of bright yellow lights falling from the ceiling. It was raining quigs. Dead quigs. Thousands of yellow lights soon carpeted the sandy floor.

Siry gasped at the sight. “I’ve lived here all my life and never saw anything like that.”

“Get used to it.”

We ran through the cavern, crunching dead quigs under our feet. A few turns later we found the cavern with the rocky pool of water that was the mouth of the flume.

“This is it,” I declared.

“This is what? I’ve been here before. It’s just a pool.”

I took the poison canisters and placed them along the cavern wall, in case we needed them when we got back. It didn’t hurt to be sure, but if my plan worked the way I wanted, we wouldn’t be needing them. I stepped up to the pool and looked into the calm, green water. I hadn’t yet flumed out of there; I wasn’t sure what to do.

“I’ll go along with whatever you want, Pendragon. But you have to tell me what this is about.”

“You gotta be strong,” I said. “You’re about to see things you never thought possible. All I can tell you is that your father knew it all. If you have any love or respect for his memory, trust him. Trust me.”

“I do trust you.”

“Then let’s go for a swim,”

I dove headfirst into the pool. Siry was right behind. We didn’t bother changing clothes. The time was long past for that, especially with what I had in mind. Was I doing the right thing? I didn’t know and didn’t care. Not anymore. I wanted to hurt Saint Dane and nothing was going to stop me.

“It’s a bottomless pool,” Siry said as the two of us treaded water. “There’s nothing down there.”

“You’re wrong,” I corrected. “Everything is down there. Everything there ever was or will be.” I took a breath and called out, “Veelox!”

The water started to swirl. It was like being in a giant Jacuzzi. Lights appeared deep down below.

“Pendragon?” Siry said nervously.

“Relax. It won’t hurt a bit.”

A moment later we were both sucked down below the surface, and rocketed to the past for what I hoped would be a meeting between me, Siry… and a ghost.

(CONTINUED)

The two of us sailed side by side through the crystal tunnel across eternity. There wasn’t time to bring Siry along slowly and introduce him to the strange wonders of the flume. He was going to have to pick it up as we went along. I suppose I should have worried about how he’d react, but to be honest, that’s not where my head was. My focus was on Saint Dane and stopping his dado attack. Siry was along for the ride, and to help where he could. If he slowed me down, I would send him back to Ibara in a heartbeat.

Beyond the crystal walls were more ethereal images from the territories, floating in space. Every time I traveled, there were more. I could barely make out the stars, that’s how dense the images had become. Faces tumbled into animals that gave way to marching armies. It was like watching a multilayered movie, where everything was vaguely transparent. It was an ominous sight. A word came to mind that best described it. “Chaos.” Or maybe there was another word. “Convergence.” Seeing the images swirl around gave me more reason to believe I was doing the right thing. The chaos had to end before it consumed everything.

Siry watched wide-eyed. I didn’t know where to begin to explain what it all meant.

“I know” was all I said. “You’re going to see some incredible sights and have a thousand questions. I’ll answer them all, but not now. You’re going to have to trust me.”