“What? I don’t know what to say to all those people!”
“You’ll think of something,” Nevva said.
The three of us stood there arid watched as the huge crowd moved up the road, through the wall, and into the courtyard. This wasn’t an angry mob; they were happy and singing. They had begun the long process of taking back their lives, and they were starting with the castle, a symbol of the games. The courtyard filled quickly, though the multitude stretched back all the way into the woods. You’d think I’d be nervous about talking to a crowd like this, but I wasn’t. I was on top of the world. Fourteen set some kind of microphone in front of me. I’d never done anything like this before, but I was ready to give it a try.
I raised up my two hands, and the people cheered. What a feeling! They wouldn’t stop. I looked down on the people who were right below us and saw them looking up at me with joy. It was the single most incredible moment of my life.
After a few minutes I waved my arms for them to quiet down. It took a few minutes more, but they finally did. It was odd to be looking out over so many people and have it go absolutely quiet.
I leaned into the microphone. When I spoke, I heard my voice boom. “I’ve never spoken to so many people like this, so forgive me if I’m not very good at it,” I began. “Today is a day you will never forget. Not because I won the Grand X, but because when the history of Quillan is written, this day will be remembered as the day the fight began to win independence, and freedom.”
The people went nuts. Many waved red flags in honor of me. I wondered if this would become the new flag of Quillan. I quieted the crowd again and said, “There is a long road ahead. This is only the first step. But you will be able to tell your grandchildren that this was the day a new Quillan was born, and you were all part of it. The revival is here. It has begun. Take back your lives!”
The place went absolutely stupid. I raised my hands and waved, firing them up even more. Man, what a rush. I never thought I’d do anything even close to this, and I have to admit, I kind of liked it.
Nevva leaned into me and whispered, “We’d better go. There are people you have to see.”
I didn’t want to leave. Who would? I had thousands of people cheering for me like I was the greatest hero of all time. What the heck? I’d never gotten any credit for saving all those other territories. I deserved a little applause.
Nevva gently pulled me inside, but the crowd didn’t stop cheering. I was so excited I couldn’t talk fast enough.
“Did you see that?” I said. “They’re going nuts out there! It worked! They’re really going to do it! Quillan is going to be okay!”
While I blathered on, Nevva kept leading me away. “Yes, it is incredible, but if we don’t get out of here now, you’ll be crushed by all these well-wishers.”
Fourteen led us down into the bowels of the castle. where there was an underground tunnel, and a car waiting for us. Nevva got behind the wheel, and I got in on the passenger side.
“Come on!” I said to Fourteen. “You’re part of this too!” “No,” he said. “My place is here.”
I got out of the car and stood by him. “There is no here anymore. You’re free.”
“There is no such thing as free to a dado,” Fourteen said. “I will remain with the other service dados.”
“Come on, Pendragon,” Nevva coaxed.
I gave Fourteen a hug. He wasn’t expecting that. He definitely didn’t know what to do.
“Thanks, man,” I said. “I wouldn’t have made it without you.”
He awkwardly patted me on the back. “Yes, you would have,” he said. “I am proud to have served you.”
It was weird being so emotional over a machine, but Fourteen had been the only voice of sanity I had to cling to at the castle. I was going to miss him.
“I hope we’ll see each other again,” I said. “Wear something different so I’ll recognize you. You guys kind of look the same.”
“I will remember that,” he said. “Good-bye, Pendragon. Good luck.”
I nodded and jumped in the car. Nevva hit the throttle, and we were on our way. We traveled through the tunnel for so long I knew we had to be outside the gates of the castle. The whole time I pumped Nevva for information. I wanted to know what was happening in Rune, and with the trustees and all over Quillan. The revival was under way and I wanted to hear what the game plan was. Nevva laughed and said I should wait for the official briefing. That was okay with me. I wanted to hear it from Tylee Magna anyway.
Nevva had done her part. Together, we Travelers had sparked the revival. The rest was up to Tylee and the revivers.
We didn’t talk much the rest of the trip. I just sat there, replaying the incredible day in my head, from every game of the Grand X to the screaming masses. It was too amazing to believe. I didn’t want to forget a single detail.
The tunnel led us inside a building that looked to be an abandoned factory of some sort. Nevva knew exactly where she was going. We drove outside and onto the streets of Quillan. After a short distance Nevva sped us into a garage that led to yet another subterranean tunnel. It was incredible how there was a whole separate world below Rune. Finally we arrived at a large garage that seemed to be the former parking area for one of the abandoned malls, complete with faded white lines to designate parking spaces. Nevva led me through the empty space, into a building, and finally into an elevator. She didn’t join me.
“Aren’t you coming?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “The trustees don’t even know I’m gone. I’m not going to give up that job just yet. This is only the beginning of the revival. There’s a very long way to go.”
‘fOkay, but be careful,” I said. ‘And hurry.”
“Pendragon,” she said, “you were incredible. For a while there, I was afraid you weren’t going to pull it off.”
“Only for a while?” I asked. “I wasn’t so sure the whole time.”
“I had more faith in you than that,” she said. “I knew you would win. That’s the way it was meant to be.” I nodded and said, “Hurry, okay.”
Nevva waved and the doors closed. The elevator started moving. I figured it must know where I was going because there weren’t any buttons inside. Without any little lights, I couldn’t tell if I was going up or down. I couldn’t wait to talk to Tylee and the others. I knew the revival had just begun, but my part in it was done. To me, this was a victory lap. A well-earned victory lap.
The elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened. With a big smile on my face I stepped out… and froze. I was in a bare room with a double door across from the elevator. To either side of the door were big silver letters that spelled out blok. I stopped smiling. What the hell was going on? I wasn’t with the revivers. This was the courtroom of the trustees of Blok.
The doors opposite me opened. I saw the room where I had been introduced to the trustees. It was empty. Eerily empty. Except for one person.
“I thought you’d never make it,” came a voice from inside. “But I guess you had to bask in the glory of your adoring public.”
I knew that voice. But it made no sense. It couldn’t be…
But it was. Stepping from the shadows of the darkened trustee room was a ghost. I knew it was a ghost because I saw him die. Yet there he stood… Challenger Green. I blinked. He didn’t go away. I blinked again. He smiled. He wasn’t a ghost. He had somehow survived the fall. He didn’t even look injured.
“I thought for sure you would have put it together when I wasn’t bothered by my injury,” he said, stomping his left foot hard on the ground. “But then again, you never were a very good detective.”
My ears rang. My palms started to sweat. I started to shake. I actually started to shake.
“No,” I said softly. “No way.”
“Oh, yes,” Green said. “Once again you have failed to grasp the obvious. You are right about one thing though.
Things are indeed going exactly as planned. It’s just that the plans are a littl
e different than you thought.”
Challenger Green started to melt and morph. I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t have to. I knew what was happening.
“Open your eyes, Pendragon,” Saint Dane said. “It’s time for you to see the new Quillan… the territory you helped create.”
(CONTINUED)
QUILLAN
When I opened my eyes, I saw Saint Dane standing there in his normal form. You know it. He was well over six feet tall and wore a dark suit that buttoned right to his neck. He was completely bald, with his pale skin marked by red scars across his head that looked like jagged lightning bolts. What always stood out the most, though, were his eyes. His blue-white intense eyes that glowed with a hint of insanity.
I ducked back into the elevator, but with no controls, I didn’t know what to do.
Saint Dane chuckled. “Where are you going? Do you want to run and announce to Quillan that Challenger Green wasn’t who they thought he was? Maybe you could tell that to your reviver friends.” He grabbed his left biceps in a mock salute. “I liked that touch when you did this to the crowd, by the way,” he said. “Very theatrical. Very effective.”
“Tell me what’s going on,” I demanded.
“Oh, I will,” Saint Dane said. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”
“But… you wanted me to compete and lose!” I shouted. “And I beat you!”
“You didn’t beat me, Pendragon,” Saint Dane said. “I wanted you to win. I let you win! The only reason I let the competition get that close was to build the drama. People love drama.”
I leaned against the back of the elevator for support.
“Actually,” he continued, “the Grand X was the icing on the cake, as they say on Second Earth. You lost the territory long before that.”
I was having trouble breathing. My heart raced. Nothing he was saying made sense.
“You see, Pendragon,” he said, taking a step toward me, “everything you’ve heard is correct. The people of Quillan are ready to take back their territory. The stage was set by the revivers. All they needed was the last piece. The inspiration. And you gave it to them. It worked! You’ve seen the result. People are massing by the thousands and marching on the city. It’s happening all over the territory. You’ve given them hope| and they are running with it. Anarchy rules!”
“But you let me win!” I shouted. “That means you wanted it to happen this way.”
Saint Dane chuckled. I hated it when he chuckled.
“Hope is a fragile emotion, my friend. It isn’t real.” He tapped his bald head. “It exists only in the imagination. If you believe there is hope, there is hope. If you don’t believe there is hope, there isn’t.”
“Just tell me,” I demanded.
“Defeat is always devastating,” he said. “But it is never more crushing than when it comes after you believe you have won.”
He turned and walked into the trustee courtroom. I didn’t want to follow. Nothing he was going to tell me in there would be good. If there were buttons on the elevator, I would have pushed them. Or maybe I wouldn’t have. As bad as I knew this was going to be, I had to know. I followed him.
Inside the courtroom, the two big screens where they had shown the replay of my Hook competition were in place. Saint Dane held the remote control.
“I didn’t lie to you, Pendragon,” Saint Dane said. “At least not entirely. I had nothing to do with the creation of Blok. Or of the games.”
“But you brought Veego and LaBerge from Veelox,” I said.
“Ahh, you discovered that,” he said. “Those two are such annoying little cretins. Don’t you agree?”
“You know you’re not supposed to mix the territories,” I said.
“No, Pendragon, you are not supposed to mix the territories! I’m the bad guy, remember? At least from your perspective. You have this illusion that the territories must remain separate and evolve along their own paths. I don’t share that philosophy. I believe we won’t reach our full potential until the walls are broken down and Halla becomes one.”
“But that would be chaos,” I said.
“Oh? What do you think is happening out in the streets of Quillan right now? A tea party? You knew that once the revival was under way it would create havoc.”
“Yes, but it’s the only way they can topple Blok,” I argued. “They’re willing to suffer to create a better life.”
“Exactly!” Saint Dane exclaimed. “Before my vision for Halla is complete, I have to break down the old ways and, yes, create chaos. From that, a new Halla will emerge. Is that so different from what you knew would happen on Quillan?”
“It all depends on what your final vision is,” I said.
Saint Dane didn’t respond to that right away. Instead he gave me a slight smile. “Well said,” he countered.
“You said that if I competed, you would reveal to me the nature of the Travelers,” I said. “Was that another lie?”
Saint Dane looked at me, then put down the remote.
“I don’t think you truly want to know, Pendragon,” he said, “You would rather believe what you want to believe. Your version of reality is so much more… comfortable.”
“Don’t tell me what I think. I want to know,” I said.
“Very well, then,” Saint Dane said.
My heart hammered in my chest. Was this it? Was the truth finally going to be revealed? Saint Dane looked at me. This may sound strange, but for a moment I actually thought I saw his eyes soften. The evil madness had been replaced by… what? Kindness? Sympathy? Compassion?
“You aren’t real, Pendragon,” he said softly. “You’re an illusion. As am I. As are all the Travelers. It’s how we’re able to travel through time and space with little concern for the physical rules that restrict the inhabitants of the territories.”
I wasn’t buying that.
“Maybe you’re not real, but I sure am,” I said. “I can’t turn myself into other beings. I feel pain just like everybody else. I was born, I’m getting older, I’m a normal physical person like everybody else on Second Earth.”
“To an extent,” he said. “It’s true, you don’t have my abilities, and you may never evolve that far, but make no mistake-the Travelers defy the physical laws of their territories. You feel pain, but think of how quickly you heal. I killed Loor but you brought her back from the dead. Does that seem ‘normal’ to you?”
“What about Uncle Press? And Osa? And all the others who died?” I said quickly.
“It was their choice,” Saint Dane said. “You didn’t want Loor to die, so she didn’t. That was your choice.”
My mind was going in a million different directions. He was telling me everything, and nothing. “So if it’s true, where did we come from? How did we come to exist? Where do you come from?”
Saint Dane sat down on a chair. It was strange. He no longer seemed like the monster demon who was bent on destroying Halla. He came across as a kindly, concerned adult. Okay, a kindly concerned adult with lightning bolts blazed into his head, but still.
“I’m afraid the answer to that question is at the very heart of our conflict, Pendragon,” he said. “I will be honest with you and say I cannot reveal the answer because it would put me at a disadvantage. I will not do that. But I will say this: You have an opportunity. We are not as different as you think. Join me. We can build a new Halla… together.”
He looked at me with kindness and sincerity. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to put an end to this battle and have everything be all right. I wanted to learn the truth. All of it. It would have been so easy.
But the memories came roaring back. All of them. He was a murderer. He caused more pain and suffering than I can even remember. I saw it all. He took joy in it. How could that possibly be the way it was supposed to be? If that was his vision of Halla, then there was no way I could let it happen.
“No,” I said. “I can never be like you. Whatever your vision for Halla is, I can’t accept tha
t it includes bringing out the worst in humanity.”
His eyes changed. The kindness evaporated. The evil had returned.
“The worst in humanity?” he said, seething. “You mean like arrogance and vanity and the thirst for power and revenge?” He stood up and walked toward me, backing me off. “Look at yourself, Pendragon. You hold yourself up to be the model of righteous deeds, but what happened here on
460 463 Quillan? You believed you couldn’t be beaten-that’s how I was able to lure you into the games. Your pride was your undoing. I killed a Traveler to see how you would respond. What did you do? You vowed revenge! You cling to the precious words of your uncle, who told you the territories cannot be mixed, yet you intercede time and time again with the natural order of a territory. You’re aghast at the fact that I’ll bring an animal from Cloral or a weapon from Eelong, yet you are quick to bring something that is far more intrusive. You bring ideas, Pendragon! You were raised on Second Earth, and you are all too quick to impose what you feel are the higher morals of that territory on all others. How is that any different from what I have done? Your arrogance astounds me! You stood facing thousands of adoring people who saw you as a savior, and you reveled in it, didn’t you? You loved the feeling I of power. Don’t lie to yourself, Pendragon. You aren’t driven by nobility alone. You are as flawed as anyone. That is the truth, whether you choose to believe it or not.” “You’re twisting it,” I said.
“Am I?” he shot back. “Let me ask you again. Red. Do you like killing?” “What? No!”
“You think you are unable to kill, but let me remind you how much blood is on your hands. People died when the tak mine exploded on Denduron. How many died when the Hindenburg crashed? But that is nothing compared to our battle, Pendragon. If you didn’t exist, I wouldn’t exist. Everything I’ve done is because of you! How many more will die before you give up this foolish quest?”
“No,” I said. “No way. You can’t blame me for what you’ve done.”
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