D. MacHale - The Pilgrims of Rayne

Siry blinked and sat back in his seat. The guy was dazed. When he set out with the Jakills to learn the truth, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.

As we got lower, the snow gave way to grass. I stopped the dygo, and we got out to survey the scene. We stood high above the valley, looking down on the new Milago village. My last view of this place had shown nothing but devastation. The explosion of the mines destroyed the Bedoowan castle and tore apart the countryside. Much of the Milago village had been destroyed as well. Now there was no sign of destruction. Just the opposite. The Milago huts were rebuilt better than before. They looked larger and sturdier. The dirt paths that wound between them now looked more organized and solid. It looked like they were paved. Beyond the village I saw the vast farmland that fed the population. It looked rich with crops. It looked perfect.

There was something else that made me smile. It was late in the day. The three suns were sinking low on the horizon. Down in the village, street lights winked to life. When I had been there before, the Milago didn’t have lights. They didn’t have power of any sort. It wasn’t until I entered the Bedoowan castle that I realized the territory was more advanced than I originally thought. The Bedoowan had been keeping the Milago in the dark ages. Literally. I was thrilled to see that the Bedoowan were now sharing their knowledge. The Milago village was alive.

“Let’s get down before it’s too dark,” I said.

We climbed back into the dygo and continued our journey. My thoughts went ahead to the next step. It would be the most difficult of all. I didn’t want to see Alder, for the same reasons I hadn’t wanted to run into Loor. I didn’t want him coming back to Ibara. Unfortunately, on Denduron we were going to need his help.

I found a dense stand of pine-looking trees and pulled the dygo beneath them. “We’ll walk the rest of the way. Don’t want to panic anybody.”

We got out of the sphere and covered it up quickly with branches and leaves. It wasn’t a very good job of camouflage, but it was the best we could do.

“We need to find the Traveler,” I said, and led him down toward the village.

I didn’t think anyone would recognize me. It had been a couple of years, and I wasn’t the same scared little kid who left there after the destruction of the Bedoowan castle. I was still fairly scared, but I wasn’t so little anymore. Siry and I walked through the streets of the busy village without getting any second looks. The community was thriving now. It was no longer the kind of place where everybody knew everybody else. The huts had become houses. The streets were no longer muddy, and lights made the place warm and inviting. It was nothing like the village I had left in ruins. Except for one thing. Along one street was an open square that, at first, looked like a park. A low, black fence surrounded a grassy clearing, where I could easily imagine people stopping for a picnic. But it wasn’t a park. It was a memorial. In the center of the square was a wide ring of stones that I recognized as the entrance to one of the old glaze mines. It was on this stone platform where Saint Dane conducted his sadistic Transfer ceremony, where a miner was chosen and weighed against the day’s haul of glaze. If the glaze didn’t weigh as much as the miner, the miner was tossed to his death inside the mine shaft. It seemed this stone structure was left there as a memorial, and a reminder.

We asked a villager where we might find the camp of the Bedoowan knights. I figured that was as good a place as any to look for Alder. The villager directed us to the bluffs overlooking the ocean, where the Bedoowan castle once stood. I knew the way. We made it through the village and across a grassy field, then we saw the glow of lights up ahead. I explained to Siry that before the battle, the grassy bluff went straight out to the ocean. From on top you’d never know that a massive castle was built into the cliff below. When the mines were destroyed the immense castle fell into the sea, taking much of the land above with it.

As we walked closer, we saw that the lights were coming from the destroyed foundation of the castle-city. It had become the compound of the Bedoowan knights. A set of ancient stone steps led down to a large, open area that I recognized as the ruins of the arena where we battled the quig beasts. The memory gave me a chill. I never thought I’d see this place again.

Siry and I stood on the edge of the ruins, looking down on what looked like some kind of game. Several knights were gathered around a circle, watching two other knights wrestle. It wasn’t an angry competition. The knights cheered and cajoled the two combatants. It looked like a bunch of guys having fun. It was an odd feeling. When I was there before, they were the bad guys. Not anymore.

“Care to place a wager?” came a voice from behind us.

I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was.

“Only if you were the one fighting,” I said. “I only bet on a sure thing.”

I was suddenly swept up in a bear hug. If I didn’t know better I’d think he was trying to crush me. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Hello, Pendragon,” Alder said warmly.

“Man, I am glad to see you,” I replied.

Alder let go and backed off. I’d he was. Though I’d grown a few inches, he still towered over me. His brown hair had grown longer and nearly touched his shoulders. He wore light leathers, similar to ours, rather than the heavy, black leather armor of a Bedoowan knight. He must have been off duty. As I’ve written before. Alder was a trained knight, but his aggressive side only came out in battle. He was actually a gentle guy who always had a smile.

But not just then. Alder’s expression was dark. “I wish I could say the same. I saw the machine, Pendragon. Many of us did. I do not know how to explain that to my people. Why would you bring such a thing from another territory?”

“To save Halla” was my answer.

He was upset. I understood. I had to explain myself. After introducing Siry, the three of us sat on the rim of the old arena, and I brought Alder up to speed. I didn’t hold anything back. He listened to everything I had to say. It was for Siry’s benefit too. My plan for battling Saint Dane on Ibara went against everything we knew to be right, but it was the only way. When I finally told Alder why we had come to Denduron, I felt as if I’d hit him in the gut. He didn’t say anything for a long while. He sat looking down at his comrades, who were laughing and having a great time. I felt bad. If we hadn’t been there. Alder probably would have been down there with them. That wasn’t the way it was meant to be. He was a Traveler.

He finally took a tired breath and said, “By doing what you ask, we could harm the future of Denduron as well. Have you thought of that?”

“I have. But this isn’t just about Veelox, Alder. It’s about Halla. If Saint Dane overruns Ibara, you may soon be facing an army of dados right here.”

“What you are asking is dangerous,” Alder said gravely. “We cannot do it alone.”

“Can you get help?” I asked.

“People remember you, Pendragon. They remember how you helped save the Milago from the tyranny of the Bedoowan. The only person they revere more is Press. But he is not here, is he?”

Again I got the feeling that Uncle Press would not have approved of what we were doing. But as Alder said, he wasn’t there. It was my show now.

“I can get people to help you,” he said. “There is only one condition.”

“Name it.”

“You must take me to Ibara.”

“No way,” I shouted, and jumped up. “I won’t risk your life. Not again. Twice was twice too many.”