D. MacHale - The Quillan Games

“I know that better than most,” Nevva said. She was apologizing, but she wasn’t backing down. “I don’t believe I wasted a minute of our time. Everything we did was important. I hope you’ll trust my judgment on that.”

Three more dark figures appeared at the tops of the stairs. We were surrounded by these masked people, each with their own black baton.

I said to Nevva, “Tell me these are the revivers.”

“They are the leaders of the revival here in Rune,” she said. “Rune has the largest number of-“

“That’s enough!” the first person barked.

Nevva fell quiet.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “But if he’s going to help us, we have to trust him.”

The first person started walking down the stairs toward us. The others walked as well. The circle was closing in around us. These were supposed to be the good guys, but they didn’t know who I was. If they thought I was a bad guy, it wouldn’t matter if they were good guys or bad guys because… oh, you get the idea.

“What is your name?” the first person asked.

“Pendragon,” I answered. “What’s yours?”

Nevva shot me a look as if I were being a little too smartass.

“Forgive him for that,” Nevva said, trying to do damage control.

“Should I also forgive him for being a liar?” the guy asked.

Huh? What did he mean by that? I looked to Nevva. She looked as clueless as I felt. The guy stepped off the stairs directly in front of me and pulled off his mask to reveal… he wasn’t a he. He was a she. And I knew her. It was the woman on the motorbike who’d helped the guy escape from the dados when I first got to Quillan. That must mean…

I looked around as the other people removed their masks as well. Sure enough, one of them was the older guy who’d helped me escape from the dados, and brought me to the garage where I was captured.

“This is Tylee Magna,” Nevva said. “She is our leader here in Rune.”

“I see your loop is gone,” Tylee Magna said to me sarcastically. “Did you remove this one the same as the last one?”

“Wait!” Nevva said, confused. “You’ve met already?” It was the first time I saw Nevva rattled.

“I was being chased by security dados,” I said to Nevva. “They helped me get away, at least for a little while.”

This was going to be tricky. I had forgotten the lies I told these people when they helped me escape. If I wanted to gain their trust, I couldn’t sound like I was making stuff up back then-which I was.

“You knew our sign,” the older guy said, grabbing his left biceps with his right hand.

“Pure luck,” I said. “I saw you give that sign to each other when you helped that other guy get away from the dados.”

The older guy and Tylee Magna exchanged looks. I didn’t know if they were impressed that I was so observant, or angry at themselves for being so obvious about their supersecret spy signals.

“So you tricked us into helping you, then lied to us,” Magna said matter-of-factly.

I figured I shouldn’t add more lies to my lies so I said, “Yeah, I lied.”

“He is from another city,” Nevva said. “I gave him the challenger clothes, and the loop.”

The older guy with the gray hair said to Nevva, “We’ve seen him compete. You’re right; he is exceptional.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Magna said forcefully. “The risk is too great. There is too much at stake.”

Nevva said, “But think of what could happen if we’re successful! This could be our defining moment! We have the chance to create the spark that puts the revival into motion. We can’t pass up this chance!”

“And if he fails?” the woman asked.

“If he fails then we will be no worse off than we are now,” Nevva answered. “I don’t see that there is a choice.”

“Uh, hello, folks!” I said. “Would somebody mind telling me what’s going on?”

Nevva looked at Tylee Magna as if to get the okay to talk. Tylee nodded. Nevva stepped in front of me and said, “We are ready. Throughout all of Quillan there are tens of thousands of people who are prepared to take back their lives.”

“Are you talking about a civil war?” I asked.

“In a way, yes,” she answered. “We will start with the security dados. They must be destroyed. We have been storing weapons and training to do just that. Once their security force is no longer a threat, the power will be ours. Blok relies on manpower to exist. If the people revolt, Blok will be powerless. Their factories can be shut down, the tarz can be interrupted, water plants can be controlled.”

‘If it’s that easy, why haven’t you done it already?” I asked.

Tylee Magna answered, “Because the people don’t have the will. Blok not only controls our lives, it controls our minds. After so many generations of living this way, people don’t believe there is any other way of life. Blok has stolen the most valuable possession any person can have-imagination. “

The old guy who reminded me of my father added, “The revivers believe we can bring that back. We have been working to show people that there is so much more to life than what they have. It sounds so simple, but to do it on such a large scale is daunting. We have tens of thousands on our side. We need millions.”

“How does Mr. Pop fit into this?” I asked.

The revivers shared looks. Nevva leaned toward Magna. She wanted to hear the answer as much as I did.

“Mr. Pop is our spiritual leader,” the woman answered. “Once the revival begins, it will be Mr. Pop who will show us all the way. But it is up to us to take the first step.”

Nevva added, “That’s where you come in, Pendragon. We’ve been looking for the right person to light the fuse on the revival. I believe it is you.” She looked right at me for emphasis and said, “This could be the turning point for Quillan, Pendragon.”

Crash!

Shattered glass and pieces of brick rained down on us. The revivers jumped back, looking just as surprised as I was. I covered my eyes and looked up to see dark figures descending from the broken ceiling directly above us. Like giant marauding spiders they quickly slid down on ropes that were dropped from the roof.

“They found us,” Tylee Magna gasped.

They weren’t giant spiders. They were security dados. They had discovered the lair of the revivers.

(CONTINUED)

We were under attack.

“How did they find this place?” the old guy said, stunned.

Nobody hung around for an answer. The security dados were coming down right on our heads. It was like being descended on by commandos. They zipped down the lines with military-like precision and skill. There were about eight of them headed down the lines. Who knew how many more were waiting above? We were outnumbered. Worse. They had guns. My first instinct was to run. For all I knew, this was an assassination squad. The others had the same thought. Nobody wanted to stick around and fight these guys.

“Scatter!” Magna commanded. “They can’t get us all,”

The five revivers scampered off in different directions.

I looked at Nevva. Her eyes were wide and scared. “I’ll find you,” she said, and took off.

It was time for me to do the same. As the dados slid down their lines, I ran for the stairs up to the next level of the mall. taking them three at a time. I got to the top and took off running down one wide corridor. I was totally winging it because I had no idea where to go. My hope was that I’d find a doorway that led out, before the dados hit the ground and could follow. Of course my fear was that I’d find a door that led to a dead end and the dados would catch me and bring me back to the castle. Or worse. Running ahead of me was one of the revivers. I made the snap decision to follow him. I figured he had to know where he was going. Fum! Fum!