The two of us made quick eye contact. We both knew what we had to do. We ran for the same mound. We both chose to fight each other rather than make a suicide run across that deadly, random gauntlet.
I was halfway to the mound when I saw two disks flying at me from different directions. I dove to the ground as they hit above me and shattered. Pieces of metal rained down, nicking my arms like stinging bees. Challenger Green saw this and laughed. My dive cost me precious seconds. Green was almost at the mound. I was going to lose.
That’s when the Green. He fell. Not to the floor-he fell into the hole. He never saw it coming. He screamed, but kept his wits. He caught the edge of the opening with his arms. His arms and shoulders were above the floor, the rest of his body dangled below. But he was trapped. I saw him kicking to try to get a leg up, but he couldn’t get leverage. He wasn’t going to fall, but he wasn’t getting up, either.
I realized with horror that he may not have been in danger of falling, but in seconds he was going to be cut in half. As soon as that piece of floor jammed back into place, he’d be history. It was almost over. I was seconds away from winning the Grand X.
The reality of the situation hit me hard. This guy was about to die. I would be the champion, but at what cost? Another gruesome death? In those few vital seconds I realized there was an opportunity here. Which would have more impact on the people of Quillan? My victory in the Grand X? Or a selfless act that would demonstrate yet again how things were going to be different? I could win the competition and let Challenger Green die, or I could save him and be a hero. Even if I ended up losing the Grand X, I would have made my point. The choice was easy.
I quickly crawled across the floor and grabbed Challenger Green by the arms.
“What are you doing?” he growled.
The floor piece started moving. I pulled back hard, but the guy was heavy. He quickly realized I was trying to save him.
“Pull! Pull!” he commanded.
He got one leg up onto the edge, and had nearly brought up the other when I heard the crunch.
“Ahhhhhh!” he screamed as the flooring slammed home, crushing his foot.
I heard the cracking sound, even above the music. It was horrible. The poor guy lay on his back, his foot jammed between pieces of floor, trapped. I tried to force open the pieces of floor, but they wouldn’t budge. Challenger Green screamed in agony. There was nothing I could do to help him… except to win. When the game was over, I had to believe he would be released. It couldn’t have been a better situation. I not only saved his life, but the game was mine to win. I quickly left him and climbed up the mound. The silver disks seemed to be coming from every angle. I didn’t bother ducking or dodging. I was either going to be lucky or I wasn’t. I got to the top of the mound and saw the lights. All I had to do was press the final red light and it would be over. My finger hovered over it. The game was mine. But I didn’t push it. I suddenly remembered what Nevva said. If the competition was tied going into the last round, the final game was always a match to the death. If I pressed that button, the competition would be tied. By saving Challenger Green and winning the game, I might have set myself up to die.
I kind of wished I had remembered that a few seconds before.
I looked down at Challenger Green, who was clutching at his shattered foot. The guy was in a lot of pain. Whatever the next competition was, I was going to have a pretty big advantage. I wondered if I had just saved Challenger Green from a random death, only to be put in a position where I might have to kill him myself? I had never killed anyone in my life and didn’t want to start. Had I made a huge blunder?
There was only one thing to do. I pressed the red light.
(CONTINUED)
QUILLAN
Fourteen worked to seal up the slice in my leg. The cut was clean, and luckily not very deep. He used a device that spit out a gluelike substance that sealed the wound and deadened it so I felt no pain. I was good to go, but I still didn’t know for what.
We were in the dining hall of the castle. I refused to go back to my room, or anywhere else in the castle. I didn’t want to be surprised by any more trapdoors or falling beds or killer clowns leaping out to bite me. Whatever was going to happen next, I wanted to see it coming.
“You saved Challenger Green,” Fourteen said. “Why? By letting him die you would have won the Grand X.”
“Lots of reasons,” I said. “I think mostly it’s because I’m not cut out for this warrior business.”
“But you are fantastic,” Fourteen said. “I have never seen anyone like you.”
“Thanks. I’ve got the tools, but I don’t have the killer instinct. I don’t even like putting lobsters into boiling water.”
“I do not understand that,” the dado said.
“What I mean is, I’m not cold enough for this.”
Fourteen nodded and said, “You are not like the others. I knew that from the moment I saw you. I believe if there were more like you, Quillan would be a better place.”
“There are more like me,” I said, putting on my pants. “You’re going to see that pretty soon.”
Veego entered the dining hall, followed by two security dados.
“You have succeeded,” she said coldly.
“At what?” I asked. “I thought it was all tied up.”
“You have succeeded in destroying us,” she said bitterly. “Wagering is nonexistent. People are taking to the streets, demonstrating against the games. Against Blok. Crowds have broken into Blok stores to ransack them. Several of our gaming arcades have been overrun and destroyed. You have somehow… inspired them to insurrection.”
I sat down on the dining table to get off my leg and said, “This was going to happen whether I was here or not. If it wasn’t me, it would have been somebody else. People can’t live like this. Fear works for only so long. Blok became powerful out of greed, but you can’t build a civilization on that.”
“But they did,” Veego countered.
“No, they didn’t,” I said quickly. “They tried to destroy one. And they almost did. But you can’t crush people’s spirits. At least not forever. It may have taken a long time, but the people of Quillan are going to take back their territory. Ending your games is just the first step.”
Veego shook her head as if she couldn’t believe it could be true. Her world was crumbling.
“It can’t be happening again,” she said. “First Veelox, now here.”
“No, there’s a difference,” I said. “The people of Veelox did it to themselves. Every last one. Nobody forced anyone to stay in Lifelight. But here on Quillan there’s only one enemy. Blok. Blok took control of their lives, and now they’re fighting back.”
“But none of this was our doing!” she said. “We were just doing our job and filling a need.”
“Yeah, well, that need is about to go away,” I said. “And don’t act all innocent. You kidnapped people and set them up to kill one another. For profit. That’s not a job, that’s a crime. It doesn’t matter if it was your idea or not. You made it happen. And you know what else…”
I walked toward her. The two dados straightened up so I didn’t get too close.
“Maybe you didn’t know what you were doing, but taking things from other territories and bringing them here could lead to a catastrophe. You’ve brought in raw materials and animals and ideas that don’t belong here. They’re not natural to this place. I suppose you can’t really be blamed, because you just don’t get it, but trust me, what you’ve done is a crime against humanity. Unless we can figure a way to purge everything you’ve brought here, you might have started a chain reaction that will make what happened on Veelox look like a party.”
Veego looked shaken. I was glad. She was a criminal. So was her goofy brother. I supposed they couldn’t totally be blamed for mingling the territories, because they didn’t know better, but still. When Blok was brought down and these guys put out of business, I sure hoped they would meet some kind of justice.
> “LaBerge and I have been called to meet with the trustees first thing tomorrow,” she said. “I have no doubt we will be relieved of our responsibilities and the games taken away.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I don’t think the games are going to be around much longer anyway. You’ll be lucky to get out before it comes down around you, and the people start storming the castle the way they’re tearing apart your arcades.”
Veego shot me a frightened look. She hadn’t thought of that.
“Well,” she said curtly. “At least there is one bit of consolation I can take from all of this.”
“What’s that?” I asked. “Do you get to keep your silly outfits? I’m sure that’s all LaBerge cares about anyway.”
“No,” she said, suddenly sounding cold. “You’re forgetting, Pendragon. The Grand X isn’t over. There’s a tie. And when there’s a tie, we have one last competition.”
“No way,” I said, scoffing. “Challenger Green’s foot was crushed. He’s out of it.”
“But he isn’t,” she said. “He’s quite resilient. He wants one more chance at you, and I’m going to give it to him.”
I didn’t like where this was going.
“We always choose the games,” Veego said, enjoying the moment. “We try to pick competitions that will provide fairly matched and exciting contests. But not in this case. You may have been successful in bringing me down, but at least I can keep you from enjoying your victory. That’s why I picked a game that Challenger Green is most competent in. It plays to every one of his strengths. I have no doubt that he will triumph… and you will die.”
“And that game is?” I asked.
“Tato, Pendragon,” she said with delight. “I don’t know what will happen with these exuberant crowds that you have inspired, but one thing I can say for certain, they will soon watch you fall to your death.” She smiled and added, “This may be my last game on Quillan, but it will be the most satisfying.” She turned and headed toward the door. “Bring him now!” she commanded to her dados.
I looked at Fourteen. He was about as stunned as a robot can be, which isn’t very much. “Find Nevva Winter,” I barked at him. “Do what you can to get her here.”
I left Fourteen and walked quickly toward the exit. I knew the way. The dados followed right behind to make sure I went where I was supposed to. I guess I knew it would come to this. This is how Remudi died. It was fitting that I’d get the chance to avenge him in the same arena. What I didn’t get was how Challenger Green was going to compete. His foot was crushed. I saw it. I’m sorry to say that I heard it too. If this guy was hurt even a little bit, I’d have a huge advantage on that Tato platform. There was no way after an injury like that, that he’d have the kind of balance to fight me, let alone maneuver on that surface if it started to tilt.
Part of me was totally confident. Another part knew it couldn’t be that easy. Challenger Green was sly. He could very well have some things planned that I wouldn’t expect. I had to treat this event as if he were whole and I had no advantage. To do anything else would be suicide.
I had to hope that since it had come to this, a tiebreaker to the death, that Nevva would do everything in her power to be there. Especially after what happened with Remudi. If she didn’t make it, I’d know something happened to her. I couldn’t stress about it though. I had to focus all my energy on beating Challenger Green in a competition that he was the all-time champion in. It was like challenging Lance Armstrong to a bike race. The only difference was, when you lost a bike race, you didn’t die.
I walked the familiar route back through the forest to where I knew the Tato dome was. When I arrived. Challenger Green was already there, standing in his square on the platform. He stood straight, on both feet. I had no way of knowing how badly he was hurt.
I walked to the edge of the platform and called out, “How’s the foot?”
“You’re a fool,” he said. “You had me beaten. No, I had beaten myself. If the situation were reversed, I would have let you die.”
“I did it for lots of reasons,” I said. “But mostly because I’m not you.”
“For what you did, I will give you one piece of advice,” he said.
“Really? What’s that?”
“Don’t think for a second that I will show you mercy for having saved me.”
I waited a second, expecting more. There wasn’t. “That’s it?” I asked. “That’s your big advice? Gee, thanks. That’ll help a bunch.”
I stepped onto the Tato platform and looked it over. It was the same as I remembered from watching the match when Challenger Green killed Remudi. The five smoky glass domes were intact. I wondered what weapons were hidden below each. I hoped I wouldn’t find out, because breaking them would make the platform unstable.
I pushed my foot down to discover the surface was soft and spongy, kind of like a wrestling pad at school. It had some spring to it. I tried to slide the sole of my boot across the surface. It gripped tight. That was good. There would be no slipping on this surface. I stood in the center to get a feel of how far it was to either side. It felt pretty big, but I knew it would seem to shrink the moment we got into the air. Amazing how that happens. The whole time I inspected the platform. Challenger Green kept his eyes on me. He didn’t move, the same as before his match with Remudi.
As I stepped into the square outline opposite Challenger Green, LaBerge and Veego entered the clearing. The two stood on the edge of the forest and gave each other a hug. It was the first sign of affection I had seen between this brother and sister. I would have been touched, if they weren’t sadistic monsters. One of them was a sadistic monster in a clown suit. You dori’t get much worse than that. I expected them to both come up onto the platform, the way they had before the match between Green and Remudi, but only LaBerge climbed aboard. Veego stayed back, her arms at her side. Just as well, I didn’t want to hear any more of her obnoxious comments.
LaBerge went up to Challenger Green. He whispered a few words to him, which I’m sure were along the lines of, “Good luck. Kill him.” He handed Green the short, metal rod that could either be used as a weapon, or to break the domes. He then came to me. His eyes were red. He had been crying. He reluctantly handed me my steel weapon and said, “I hope this hurts.”
“Thanks!” I said. “I love you too, clowny.”
The guy didn’t even look me in the eye. Wimp. He started to walk away when I asked, “Hey, don’t I get an advantage because I won the last game?”
LaBerge said, “It’s tied. There are no advantages in a tie.”
I said, “I’ll bet you just made that up.”
He didn’t answer. The guy hated me for ruining his fun.
He walked to the center of the Tato platform and stood there quietly, his eyes closed. What was he doing? A few moments passed. He opened his eyes and glanced over to his sister, who stood on the edge of the clearing. She gave him a slight nod. LaBerge nodded back. He took a deep breath and stood up tall, puffing out his chest. In seconds he transformed himself from the broken, sorry clown whose world wasj about to crumble, to the outgoing ringmaster I had first seen on the screen above the city of Rune. This was his last dance, and he was going to play it for all it was worth. He dramatically raised one hand. It was a signal. Music blasted through the forest. It was the same loud, thumping electronic music I’d heard before the last Tato match. I could only imagine what was happening on the streets of Rune and the rest of Quillan as they watched the spectacle.
LaBerge put on a big smile, threw his arms out, and sang, “Place your bets, the time is near; the greatest games on Quillan are here!”
He stalked around the platform, spinning, sliding, and gesturing wildly. “This has been a match for the ages! The greatest Grand X in the history of Quillan. What better way to end it than here, in the Tato dome.” He paused, probably for the crowd to cheer, but there was no way to know if that was happening. I have to admit, he was good. It’s gotta be hard playing to a crowd
you can’t see or hear.
“Introducing for the last time, undefeated in an unprecedented seven Tato matches, and ready to retire after one last crushing victory, your champion. Challenger Green!”
Challenger Green didn’t move. It was like watching a statue. He kept his eyes on me.
“And his opponent, a challenger who has done surprisingly well in this Grand X. A new favorite who hopes to last as long as he can before falling to a painful death. Challenger Red!”
Wow, I guess there was no mystery about who he thought would win. It wasn’t until that moment that it finally hit me: This fight was really going to happen. I had to get my game face on, fast.
“Good luck to you both!” sang LaBerge. “The betting is closed. The game will begin!”
He skipped to the end of the platform and jumped off. I bent my legs. I knew what was coming next. With a slight jolt, the platform began to rise. I kept my eyes on Challenger Green, trying not to think about how high we were going. It was hard to miss, since behind him, I saw the trees seemingly sinking down as we rose into the air. I imagined hearing the multiple thousands of people in the streets chanting “Taaaaaaaaaato!” as we ascended. A few seconds later we cleared the tops of the trees to reveal a breathtaking sight. Literally. I had to catch my breath. I could look over the sea of treetops to see the buildings of the gray city far beyond. I felt the platform sway slightly. We were way the heck up there.
The platform stopped with a lurch. This was it. The final stage of the Grand X, the last chapter of my mission here on Quillan, and maybe my last act as a Traveler.
I heard LaBerge’s amplified voice shouting, “Four… three… two… one… TATO!”
And it was on.
(CONTINUED)
QUILLAN
The Quillan Games tpa-7 Page 39
