The Rivers of Zadaa

by D. J. MacHale

  I shook my head and said, “Not yet. We need to know more.”

  Reluctantly Loor backed off and let the guards control us. We passed the boulders that marked the beach and continued along a gravel path. It felt like we were in a huge field, littered with boulders. I couldn’t tell for sure because it was so dark. I had the stupid thought that I wanted to see the place in daylight. Right. Daylight. There was no daylight here. Ever. How depressing was that? I had no idea what time of day or night it was.

  The path continued up a hill. When we reached the top, we got a better view of our surroundings. Saint Dane said this was an island. We had to take his word for that. Because of the darkness, there was no way to see where the land ended and the sea began. What we did see, though, was a group of buildings. I’d say they were about a half mile farther along the trail. It was a sprawling, complex maze of steel and stone. There was one central square structure that was pretty big. It looked about the size of an airplane hangar. Scattered around it were lower structures of all different lengths and heights. It was easy to see these buildings because there were lights burning in hundreds of windows. This was the first sign of life we had come across since we left the surface. We had finally caught up to the Rokador.

  “It is a fortress,” Loor said in awe.

  She had read my mind. The inner buildings were surrounded by others that ringed the entire complex, like a fort. For the Batu to attack, they would have to come across the ocean, unprotected, and invade this island stronghold. We were wrong before. The Rokador weren’t going to make their stand in Kidik, they were going to fight the Ghee warriors right here on this island. This is where the battle for Zadaa would unfold.

  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 reminded her.

  “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.

  “Tha
t 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.

  Loor frowned. “He was killed,” she said. “By the archer with the silver arrows. I am sorry.”

  Teek dropped his head. I saw tears roll down his cheeks. “Bokka was coming to find you,” Teek said, his voice clutching. “To warn you.”

  “About what?” I asked.

  Teek looked between the two of us with red, teary eyes. “Who is Saint Dane?” he asked. “He says he is from a tribe on the far side of the desert. Could he be one of your enemies, Pendragon? The Red Sox?”

  Under other circumstances I would have thought that was funny.

  “He is not a friend,” I said. “Not of the Batu or the Rokador.”

  Teek nodded. It seemed as if he already knew that, but my words confirmed it.

  “Then why is he here?” he asked.

  “That would take a really long time to explain,” I said.

  “Please believe me,” Teek continued. “We did not know. Most of the Tiggen guards were spread far across the underground. We were lied to. We believed everything the elite told us.”

  “About the Rokador holding back the water?” I asked.

  “That’s only the beginning!” Teek cried. “There is so much more. It is horrible.”

  “Tell us, Teek,” Loor said softly. “Maybe we can help.”

  “No one can help!” Teek cried. “It’s too late.”

  “We can try to stop things from getting worse,” I said.

  Teek rubbed tears from his eyes and took a deep breath. He nodded as if he had made a decision. He unlocked the cell door.

  “You must hear it for yourselves,” he said. “After that, I will take you to see. Until you see, you will not truly understand.”

  “Where are we going?” Loor asked.

  “First to the Rokador elite,” Teek answered. “They are sharing a final meal with the one who calls himself Saint Dane.”

  JOURNAL #22

  (CONTINUED)

  ZADAA

  When we stepped out of the cell, I saw that Teek had brought our weapons. Nice idea, but there wasn’t a whole lot that a couple of sticks could do against an entire tribe of Rokador. Still, it felt good to have them back. I guarantee Loor felt the same way. Teek led us on a quick, twisted journey through the corridors of the stone building. I’m guessing we were in the basement since the hallways looked like the tunnels of the underground. There wasn’t much to see except for stone walls and closed doors. Teek knew exactly where he was going, which was amazing because it all looked like a whole lot of the same to me. We made a few turns, dashed down a few more empty corridors, and stopped at a closed door.

  “You must be quiet,” Teek said softly. “Above us is the private dining quarters of the elite. This door leads to a small tunnel that provides air to the building.”

  “Who are these elite?” I asked.

  “Our leaders,” Teek answered. “They govern the Rokador, pass the laws, and sit in judgment.”

  “That’s a lot of power,” I said. “Are they elected?”

  “They are descendents of the original Rokador—those who first discovered the underground many generations ago.” Teek stopped talking and closed his eyes. It was like he was suddenly overcome with emotion.

  “Are you ill?” Loor asked.

  “I’m fine,” Teek said after taking a breath. “We can hear what they are saying, but if we are discovered…” He didn’t finish the sentence. I figured that whatever would happen, it wouldn’t be good. Note to self: Don’t get caught.

  He quietly opened the door and entered. Loor and I followed. We found ourselves in a space with a ceiling so low we had to duck down to walk. There looked to be two shafts that disappeared into darkness. Teek had explained that these tunnels provided air. I felt a slight breeze, as if the air were moving. But learning how they ventilated this building wasn’t why we were here. Light shone down from above through several small slits that were about a foot long and an inch wide. Teek approached this light source quietly and pointed for us to look. We quickly saw that these slits were the openings through which the room above was ventilated. More important, we were able to look through them and see into that room. Judging from the angle, I guessed that the slits were at the base of a wall. It was the perfect vantage point to peek into the room and eavesdrop on the proceedings.

  The room itself was like nothing we had seen in the underground. It was big enough to hold a long dining table. There was artwork on the walls and comfortable-looking furniture. Candles burned everywhere. The dining table itself was loaded with an incredible feast. There were silver bowls heaped with all sorts of strange-looking fruit. On one end of the table was a roast something. On the other end was another roast that looked like a turkey. There were tall goblets full of drinks. It was a pretty fancy feast—not exactly something you’d expect to see in a place where people were desperate for food and water.

  Loor and I exchanged looks. I knew she was thinking the same thing I was: Where was the horror Teek was talking about? It sure wasn’t in this room. This place looked pretty sweet. I counted ten Rokador. The ruling elite. I guess I expected to see a bunch of white-hairs who had centuries of experience between them to draw upon as they made the wise choices that helped guide the future of their people.

  Well…no.

  A couple people looked kind of old. One guy was so ancient he didn’t look like he could get out of his chair. I think he was napping…and drooling. I swear, there was a line of drool dropping from his mouth that formed a puddle on his chest. Nice. But overall it was a totally diverse group. There were three people who looked like adults. Two women and a man. There was a guy and a girl who didn’t look any older than I am. And then there were two little kids. I’m serious. Kids. They all had the pasty white skin and green eyes of the Rokador and wore the familiar white robes. This must have been a special occasion, because they all wore the fancy robes with the gold trim like I wore to the Batu Festival of Azhra.

  Everyone was eating quickly, pounding down the food as if it were their last meal. Truth be told, it might have been. They stuffed their mouths with fatty chunks of meat before they had even finished chewing what they already had bitten off. They washed it all down with water from their fancy goblets. I was surprised at first, but that’s before I remembered that in truth, there was no water shortage. At least, not down here.

  Oh yeah. There was one other guest at the table. Saint Dane. He sat on one end, watching the elite stuff themselves. He wasn’t eating. Every so often he’d take a sip of water. The whole event seemed to amuse him. He watched them with a sli
ght smile, like a spider who knew he didn’t have to sweat because all the little flies were firmly trapped in his web. After watching this gluttony for a while, I was starting to feel sick to my stomach. I don’t know if it was because I was scared, or disgusted, or just plain hungry. I think it was all the above.

  Finally one of the adult women stood up and addressed the group. “A toast,” she said, holding up her goblet. “To our friend from the far side of the desert. He came to us a stranger, but has grown to be a trusted friend, a wise council, and the angel who will be forever known as the man who resurrected the Rokador. To Saint Dane!”

  “Saint Dane!” everyone echoed. They raised their glasses and cheered.

  Saint Dane smiled and raised his hand modestly, as if to say, “Aw shucks, folks, it was nothing.”

  I wanted to puke. Whatever Saint Dane said to these people, he had them totally convinced he was there to help. It was an eerie feeling. The people in this room loved him. I saw it in their eyes. They offered him a toast, they fed him like a king, they thanked him for all he’d done. They were probably forming plans to build a statue to him. They had no idea that whatever it was he talked them into, it would lead them to ruin. It was chilling. Was this the horrible truth that Bokka tried to tell us about?

  Saint Dane wiped his mouth daintily and stood up. “My friends,” he said. “And I am honored to call you my friends. Today marks a new beginning. The wise decision you have made will allow you to put aside the recent dark past and look to a brighter tomorrow. Now, finally, the Rokador will be able to grow and flourish in ways that just a short time ago seemed impossible. After today nothing will be impossible for you. I applaud your courage, and your vision.”

  He raised his own glass to them as they applauded. It was a total lovefest, until one of the older guys stood up and raised his hand for silence.

  “I share in everyone’s gratitude to Saint Dane for offering us his insight and advice. We are on the brink of a new future. A safe future. But I must admit, I am troubled by the lengths we must go to in achieving it. As we sit here now, enjoying our feast, I think we should ask ourselves one last time if the drastic course we have chosen is the right one.”