D. MacHale - The Soldiers of Halla

When I came out from under the door, I imagined myself returning to normal. I floated up. My eyes (or whatever it was I was seeing through) were on the door. I followed the lines of the deep, brown grain of the wood as I moved higher. The ascent took only a few seconds. I stopped. Was it over? Was I back to normal? I was still staring at the door when I sensed movement. I turned quickly to see a Ravinian dado coming for me, his silver wand high, ready to strike.

I was back to normal.

I dove to the ground to avoid the attack. If it hit me, I would be smoke again, and not the good kind. I side-kicked the knee of the dado. It was off balance from its attack and crumpled quickly. But it wasn’t in pain. Dados didn’t feel pain. As it fell, it was already swinging the weapon back at me. I thrust my hands out and grabbed its wrist. The thing was strong, but I had adrenaline on my side. There was no way I wanted that wand to hit me. I’d already wasted enough power to get out of that room. The other advantage I had was leverage. The dado was off balance, so it couldn’t use its legs. After I kicked out its knee, I was already getting my feet under me. It was using its arms to push the wand at me. I was using my arms… and my legs.

I won. I twisted the hands of the dado around, breaking its grip. The wand clattered to the floor. I swept it up instantly and hit the dado square in the chest as it was turning to reach around. I felt a sharp jolt through my hands as the power of the weapon unloaded. Instantly the dado went stiff. It was creepy. Like switching off a light. Its eyes went blank. Its body went rigid. With a quick little shove I knocked it backward, and it fell to the floor. Dead. Fried. Whatever.

It had been an interesting thirty seconds. “Pendragon?” came Elli’s voice from the other side of the door.

“I’m okay,” I said, breathless. “There was a dado. Now there isn’t.”

“You turned to smoke,” she said, her voice sounding a little shaky.

Oh. Right. That. “Really?”

“Yes. It was like you melted and floated under the door. Are you all right?”

“I guess” was all I could say. I was too numb for anything more insightful than that.

“Can you open the door?” she asked.

I went for the door, but there was no way to unlock it. I quickly checked the dado to find out he didn’t have keys.

“No,” I announced.

Elli asked, “Should I try to get out the way you did?”

I had to think about that for a second. Finding Mark was going to be tough enough. Having Elli with me would have made it that much harder.

“No,” I replied. “I’m sorry, Elli. Stay here for now. I’ll be able to get around faster on my own.”

She didn’t respond. I’m sure she wasn’t thrilled.

“Elli? You all right?”

She answered with conviction. She was trying to be strong. “Yes. I understand.”

“If I’m not back in a few hours, go back to Solara. Tell Uncle Press what we’ve seen.”

“And what will you do?”

“I’m going to find Mark.”

“And then what?”

I laughed. “Then I’ll figure something else out.” “I know you will.”

“I’m sorry, Elli, but I think it’s better that I do this on my own.” “I do too.”

It was an awkward moment, especially because we couldn’t see each other.

“Bobby?” she said. “If you get the chance, tell Nevva that I hope we can speak again someday. I want her to understand why I did the things I did.”

“I will,” I assured her. “Good-bye, Elli.”

I had to pull myself away from the door. It killed me to leave her behind, even though I knew she’d be okay. She could always return to Solara. My heart ached for her. I put her through torture by bringing her to see Nevva. All it did was cause her pain. There are a lot of things I would have done differently if I’d had another chance. Add that one to the list.

But I couldn’t look back. Not just then, anyway. By using the spirit of Solara to get out of that cell, I’d given myself the chance to do something positive. I didn’t want to waste it. It was time to get moving. It was time to find Mark. I started to run and nearly tripped over the dead dado. Seeing the inanimate thing gave me an idea. I dragged the broken device down the corridor until I found another empty room that was much like the one where Elli and I had been kept prisoner. I pulled the dado inside, and took off its clothes.

I was going to become a dado. Or at least try to look like one. Since I had no idea where I would have to go to find Mark, I figured that blending in would be a good thing. I had been wearing my Second Earth clothes for a while now.

Not only were they pretty gamey, I was afraid that I looked more like one of the roughed-up rebels who lived outside the conclave than a clean and tidy Ravinian. Hopefully, I thought, by wearing the red uniform of a Ravinian guard, I might not draw curious looks. It was risky, but I hoped it might give me a slight advantage.

The dado was more or less my size, though a little smaller around the chest and shoulders, which made his uniform fit pretty snug. I felt like I could easily bust out of it, Incredible Hulk-style. I’d have to be careful. I kept my own boxers on. Socks too. The one’s I’d been wearing belonged to Courtney’s dad. There were some things I wasn’t willing to part with. Best of all, the boots fit almost perfectly. From the neck down I figured I looked the part. The problem was from the neck up. My hair was well over my ears and my beard stubble was dark-definitely undado like. All I could do was push my hair behind my ears and pull the red Ravinian guard cap down low. It would have to do. I didn’t bother putting my own clothes on the dead dado. It wasn’t like he was going to get a chill. I pulled the machine behind the open door and tossed my clothes on top of it. If anybody glanced in from the corridor, they wouldn’t see it. If they stepped inside, well, alarms would go off. Nothing I could do about that. The last thing I did was pick up the long silver weapon.

I was ready. I stepped out into the corridor, not knowing which way to go. It stretched out to both sides, with many doors along the way. If I’d had a coin, I’d have tossed it. I chose to go right and jogged down the long, tile-covered hallway. I had absolutely no plan. How could I? I didn’t know where I was or where they might have taken Mark. The best I could do was walk around, pretending to be on guard patrol. Or whatever it was the dados did. I decided that the best place to begin my search would be the Taj Mahal. That’s where Saint Dane and Nevva hung out. Chances were good that was where they would take Mark.

At the end of the corridor were stairs leading up. I took two at a time, winding around, climbing higher to the next floor. The stairs brought me to a wide-open area that I recognized. I suppose the tile work down below should have given it away, but I hadn’t made the connection. I wasn’t going to have to go far to get to the Taj Mahal. I was already in it. We had been in Saint Dane’s basement all along. I glanced around, wondering where I should begin my search, when I registered an odd sound. I thought I’d heard it earlier, but it was so faint that it hadn’t registered. Now that I had climbed out of the dungeon, it was louder. I guess you could call it a “tone.” Three tones actually. Like notes. They played over and over again. The same three notes. I couldn’t tell where they were coming from, but it definitely wasn’t from inside the Taj Mahal. It was like nothing I’d heard during the time I’d spent inside the conclave, so I figured it was worth investigating.

I worked my way through the tall pillars, looking for a way out of the building. The closer I got to the doorway, the louder the tones became. There was definitely something happening outside. I found a set of double wooden doors and pushed my way out into the bright sun. Instantly the three tones grew loud. Really loud. They weren’t annoying, but you couldn’t miss them. They didn’t sound urgent, like a fire warning or anything. It reminded me of the tones they used to play at Stony Brook Junior High to announce that it was time for classes to pass. There was no question these tones had a purpose, and I wanted to know what it was.