D. MacHale - The Rivers of Zadaa

“Pendragon!” came a shout.

It was enough to make my killer hesitate. A silver blur flashed toward him that nailed him square in the head, knocking him down. It was a Rokador baton. A quick look back showed me where it had come from.

Alder had thrown it. He had come out of the safety of the barracks to save my life. But he was hurting. The arrow was still in his shoulder. Blood was spreading. The Tiggen guard that Saangi had been fighting knocked her down, and went after the more dangerous adversary, Alder. He lunged at Alder, smashing his baton across Alder’s face. It was a brutal shot, made more so by the fact that Alder took the brunt of the electrical charge. I saw his body stiffen as he fell back.

I flashed back to the moment when the flume was collapsing on Eelong, and the rock fell from above, hitting the head of Kasha, the Traveler. It killed her. I couldn’t bear to see this happen to another Traveler. Another friend.

I screamed and sprinted across the sandy yard and tackled Alder’s attacker. The guy never saw me coming. I smashed his hand into the ground, making him drop his baton.

“Pendragon!” I heard Saangi yell. I looked up in time to see something that made me freeze like a deer in the headlights. The Tiggen leader that Alder had beaned with his weapon wasn’t knocked out. He had recovered his crossbow. It was up on his shoulder. His eye was along the barrel to take aim… at me. Loor was still fighting. Bokka was still wrestling. Saangi wasn’t close to him. There was nothing to stop this guy from firing, and I was dead square in his sights.

There was nothing I could do, no place to hide. All this guy had to do was pull the trigger and I’d be done. I figured I’d dive away as soon as he fired, but if those lethal little spears were as fast as I’d seen before, I wouldn’t stand a chance. I braced myself, ready to dive in either direction. That’s when the Tiggen assassin did something I didn’t expect. He kept his eye to the barrel of the weapon, but turned away from me. What was he doing? Had he changed his mind?

The answer came a second later. He was no longer interested in me. He had another target in mind. No sooner did he turn the weapon away, than he fired. Once, twice, three times. Rapid fire. As each arrow was released I heard a small snapping sound, and a whoosh as the missiles shot across the training ground toward their target.

Bokka.

Bokka had just thrown the Tiggen he had been wrestling to the ground and was getting to his feet. He never made it. The volley of arrows hit him square in the chest. In his heart. One after the other. The force stood him straight up. He stood there for a second with wide, unbelieving eyes, then fell flat onto his back.

“Bokka!” Loor screamed. With one shot she nailed the Tiggen she had been fighting, and ran for her friend. I didn’t know what she planned on doing. He was beyond help before he even hit the ground. My fear was that the assassin would start shooting at Loor. I grabbed the Tiggen baton off the ground and started after the assassin, but he quickly turned and aimed his crossbow at me.

“Do not move,” he said with no emotion.

He didn’t have to tell me twice. This guy wasn’t afraid to shoot. I froze. He motioned with the weapon for me to move toward Loor. I did what I was told. He glanced at Saangi, who also got the message. Both of us warily circled to join Loor. As we walked, the other Tiggen guards slowly got to their feet. They had been beaten up pretty badly, but the guy with the crossbow held all the cards. The other Tiggens limped toward the assassin. I glanced back to Alder, who was lying on his back, not moving. I didn’t know if he was dead or alive. His blood was seeping onto the sand, which was actually good news. It meant his heart was still beating. But for how long?

Loor knelt on the sand with Bokka’s head in her lap. I remembered the horrible moment when she had done the same with her mother, Osa. It was a cruel twist of fate that Loor now had to see another loved one die the same way. As sad as that was, we had more pressing problems to deal with. Saangi and I joined Loor. I looked back to see the Tiggen guards gather around the assassin, whose weapon was aimed at us. Two words came to mind: firing squad. If the Tiggen guard wanted to kill us, there wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it.

“Why?” I asked. “We’ve done nothing to you.”

“Bokka was a traitor,” the assassin said. “He deserved to die. We came for him, not you.”

The assassin took a step backward, while keeping the weapon on us. The others followed, but kept their eyes on us.

“Do not follow us,” he said. “Or you will die along with him.”

The other Tiggens turned and jogged off. We didn’t move. It wasn’t worth it. A moment later they were gone. They probably crawled back into the sand and slithered off like the snakes they were. I was numb. None of this made sense.

“Kidik,” Bokka whispered.

He was alive! The poor guy was fighting to stay focused. “Quiet,” Loor said, cradling his head. “We will care for you.”

“I know the truth,” Bokka wheezed. “I came to tell you. They followed me, to stop me.”

This was horrible. Bokka was dying. With his last few breaths he was trying to tell us something that was important enough to be murdered for. With one weak hand, he motioned to his boot.

“What?” I asked.

“Look,” he said.

The Tiggen guards didn’t wear open sandals like the rest of the Rokador. They wore soft, sand-colored leather boots that reached nearly to their knees. I saw that tucked into his right boot, barely poking out the top, was a folded piece of parchment paper. I pulled it out and unfolded it. It was a map.

“Go to Kidik,” Bokka rasped. He was fading fast. “The truth lies beyond the city, out in the center. It is… it is…a nightmare.”

“What is the truth?” Loor asked. I could see that her eyes were tearing up. Her best friend was about to die.

“Find the man,” Bokka wheezed. “The stranger.” He coughed, gasping for breath.

“What man, Bokka?” I asked. “What is the truth?”

Bokka tried to focus on me, but he was slipping fast. “He says he is from your tribe, Pendragon.”

“What?” I shouted in surprise.

“Beyond the city. There is a vehicle waiting to take you there. Find him.”

“Who is he, Bokka?”

Bokka coughed. It was painful to watch. I found myself taking a deep breath, as if it would help him breathe. It didn’t. He winced, but forced himself to focus. He looked me right in the eye and said, “His name is…Saint Dane.”

They were the last two words he would ever speak.

Thenext few hours passed in a blur. We first brought Bokka’s body into the barracks and covered him. Loor was amazingly stoic. I couldn’t imagine what was going through her head. Her best friend from birth had been killed by his own people. The only way I could relate would be to imagine if something happened to either of you two guys, Mark and Courtney. It was beyond horrible. Bokka died trying to help Loor. To help us. I regretted ever being jealous of the guy. He was a hero. Still, Loor couldn’t allow herself time to mourn. We needed to take care of the living, and Alder needed help. Fast. We knew where to get it.

We awkwardly carried the injured Bedoowan knight to the entrance to the underground, and the small train that would take us back to the crossroads. It wasn’t easy. Alder was big and heavy. None of us complained. As we traveled along in that miniature train, I hoped that we wouldn’t run into the Tiggen assassins. If they thought we were following them, well, let’s just say I’m really glad we didn’t see them.