D. MacHale - The Rivers of Zadaa

The Tiggen guards hurried us down the path and quickly brought us into one of the outlying buildings. It was a long corridor of stone, with lights lining the walls. There were several doors on either side, spaced several yards apart. Doors with bars. It was a prison. They rushed us into one of the cells and quickly locked us in. Loor and I both turned back to see something strange.

The Tiggen guards had removed their hoods. Since they were underground, they didn’t wear goggles. Like the other Rokador, these guys had incredibly pale skin and dazzling green eyes. They were all blond, too. That wasn’t the strange part. What was odd was the way they looked at us. We were the enemy. We represented a tribe that was about to come down here to annihilate them. You would think they’d have hatred in their eyes. They didn’t. It’s hard to describe this, but it seemed as if they were looking at us with sadness. I swear they wanted to say something, but couldn’t bring themselves to do it. All five of them. They stood in the doorway with these pained looks on their faces.

I took a chance and asked, “What’s going on?”

The guards looked at one another nervously and left quickly, as if they had already stayed too long. One stayed outside to watch over us.

“That was…odd,” I said to Loor.

She didn’t look happy. “I listened to you, Pendragon,” she said impatiently. “Now we are trapped. I cannot stay in here when the Batu attack.”

“The trick is to stop this before they attack,” I remindedher.

“How?” Loor asked quickly. “There is no time. When we left Xhaxhu, the Ghee were gathering. They were bringing in thousands of other Batu to join in the attack. They had no problem finding volunteers. They are angry and they are thirsty. When they discover this underwater sea, there will be no mercy.”

“But Saint Dane has something planned,” I reminded her. “He said the people on this island would be the only ones to survive. That didn’t sound like he was betting on the Rokador to beat the Batu in a fair fight. He’s more clever than that.”

“All the more reason we must leave this prison,” Loor said.

She scouted the cell. It was a good-size room, with two stone cots. There wasn’t even a toilet or a sink. There was one window with bars that looked out onto…nothing. Loor grabbed the steel bars and shook them fiercely. They didn’t budge. She left the window and hurried to the cell door. She grasped those bars and shook them as well. All she got for her effort was a minor clattering of the lock and a dirty look from the Tiggen guard outside.

“Saint Dane is putting on a show for us,” I said. “He’s not going to keep us in here. He wants us to have front-row seats for whatever it is he’s got planned.”

“And if he gets what he wishes, we will have failed,” Loor said. She sat down on a stone cot, looking peeved.

I was beginning to think I had made a mistake. We were not doing any good in here. We needed to find out what Saint Dane was up to. What was he planning? He wasn’t going to fight a war by himself. As usual, he was playing both sides. He made sure the one person who would have stopped the Batu from attacking was murdered. Then we found him down here being buddies with the Rokador. He wanted a war, all right, but there had to be more than that. There always was. The trick was finding it.

“Teek,” Loor said.

“Excuse me?”

“Bokka’s friend Teek,” Loor answered. “You met him on the farm. I have known him as long as Bokka.”

“Right, the guy who was afraid of bugs,” I said. “What about him?”

“If he is here, he will help us.”

I didn’t know Teek from a hole in the wall, but if Loor said he would help, then I wasn’t exactly in a position to argue. It wasn’t like I had any other ideas. I walked to the door and looked at the Tiggen guard outside. He stood staring into space. Nothing was going on, yet he was breathing hard. He was upset about something, that much was pretty clear.

“Hello,” I said.

The guy glanced at me, then quickly looked away. Yup, he was scared.

“You know something is about to happen, don’t you?” I asked calmly. “It’s bad, isn’t it?” The guy wouldn’t look at me.

I was a Traveler. Uncle Press told me that we had the ability to persuade people. I had no idea why we had this power or where it came from, but I’d seen it work. Gunny was pretty good at it. So was Uncle Press. I never had much luck with it unfortunately. The only time it seemed to work for me was when I tried it on somebody who was under stress. Or upset. If their mind was someplace else, they were open to persuasion. The Tiggen guard outside our cell was definitely upset. If there was ever a chance for me to work the magic, it was on this guy. I did my best to clear my mind, take away any trace of emotion or doubt, and focus on the guard.

“We have a friend,” I said to him. “He’s a Tiggen. His name is Teek.”

This got a reaction. He shot me a quick, surprised look. He knew Teek.

“Teek is a friend,” I said. “He would want to know we’re here. Do you know where he is?”

The guy fidgeted. I had no idea if I was getting through to him or not.

“Can you find Teek and tell him we are here?” I asked as sincerely as possible.

The guy was torn. He glanced at me a few times, as if he wanted to say something. I didn’t push. I felt like I had a fish on the line, and if I pulled too hard, he’d get away.

“What you are asking,” he finally said, his voice cracking, “could get me executed.”

“I’m not asking you to do anything but let Teek know we’re here,” I said calmly.

The guy closed his eyes. He was really torn up. I didn’t know if it was because I was being so persuasive or because he was holding something back. Finally he turned to face me. I saw his anguish. He was nearly in tears.

“Whatever happens,” he said, “please know that most of us had no say. We are victims. I’m still having trouble believing it.”

“Believing what?” I asked, letting urgency creep into my voice. “What happened?”

The guy turned and jogged away. “Wait!” I shouted.

Too late. My fish was gone. I was afraid I’d pushed too hard. I turned to see that Loor was standing behind me. “What did that mean?” she asked.

“That guy was scared,” I said. “I don’t think it’s because the Batu are coming, either. He was truly shaken. Something else is going on.”

“Do you believe he will find Teek?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but right now he’s our best shot at getting out of here.”

There was nothing for us to do now. I needed to get my thoughts together, so I sat on one of the cots and took out the paper and pencil I always carry in my leather pouch and began to write this journal. I hoped that by putting it on paper, I might discover something we had missed. As I wrote, I went over ever detail, trying to unravel the mystery of Saint Dane’s plan. What I kept coming back to was Bokka. He knew something was up. He said it was a nightmare. I figured that when he and the other Tiggen guards returned to Kidik, they discovered something so horrible, he had to come and tell us even though it meant putting himself in danger. Whatever it was, it had all the Tiggen guards on edge. What could it be?

I was writing for about half an hour, and was about to roll up this journal and send it to you guys when I heard a small voice calling from the corridor. “Loor?”

We both looked up quickly to see the Tiggen named Teek standing beyond the barred door.

“Teek!” Loor shouted, and ran to him. I was right behind her.

Teek looked bad, like he hadn’t slept in a week. It was pretty obvious that whatever the big, scary secret was, he knew it. “Bokka?” he asked.