Pendragon - The Rivers Of Zadaa Part 18

She was back in her armor.

Gone was the beautiful red dress and open sandals. Gone too was her jewelry and decorative armbands. Her hair was tied back tight, and her wooden stave was lashed to her back. She was once again dressed to kill. Literally.

"Get ready," she said to me, and held out a pile of black clothing. It was my Ghee armor. The party was officially over. I quickly dressed while we talked.

"What did you find out?" Saangi asked.

Loor looked troubled. "The rain has come from the north. Scouts have been tracking it for hours. It is a very big storm, big enough to begin the process of ending the drought."

"Why do you say that like it's bad news?" I asked.

"Because the water is disappearing," Loor answered. "Yes, the troughs in the city are collecting a small amount, but that won't last. There is still nothing coming from the rivers below. With all the rain that has fallen in the north, there should be some sign that the water is rising and the rivers are returning. There is not. They are as dry as they were yesterday."

"So, you think that's proof that the Rokador are holding it back?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter what I think," Loor said. "It is what the Ghee commanders are saying. This is the justification they were looking for. And now that Pelle a Zinj is dead, there is no one to stop them."

"Whoa, wait," I said. "It's one rainstorm! That's not enough proof."

"There is more," Loor said. "The Rokador amba.s.sador to Xhaxhu has disappeared. He was last seen heading underground, along with his staff. Why would he leave? Especially now, when the Batu are saying the a.s.sa.s.sination was a Rokador plot. It would be his duty to defend the Rokador against those charges."

Saangi said, "Unless he has no defense."

I said, "Okay, I admit, that looks bad. But the Ghee have to cool off. This rain might keep coming and-"

"You do not have to convince me, Pendragon," Loor said. "I am not the one preparing to march into the underground."

My mouth went dry. Saangi shot Loor a look.

"Say that again?" I said.

"The rebels have taken control. Ghees who were loyal to Pelle now believe that war is the only answer. They are preparing to launch their attack."

We all stood there, letting that ominous concept sink in.

Those who wanted war because they blamed the Rokador for the drought now had their proof. Those who stood behind the royal family now had their reason as well. Revenge. The two sides had come together. There was going to be a war. "How much time?" I asked.

"I do not know," Loor said. "Maybe a few suns. They are smart. They will not launch this war until they are fully prepared."

"What about you?" I asked. "Aren't you supposed to be with the Ghee?"

"I am now a deserter," Loor said with no emotion. "If found, they will hang me."

I felt dizzy. Things were happening a little too fast.

"Do you still think we should go to Kidik?" I asked.

"Now more than ever," Loor said. "We need to know what Bokka found."

"Do you think he discovered that the Rokador are holding back the water?" I asked.

Loor thought for a moment, and then said, "Since the beginning of the drought, I have held out hope that the Rokador would not deliberately try to harm the Batu. I still believe they would never do something so foolish, unless there were other forces at work."

"Other forces likeaSaint Dane?" I asked.

Loor nodded and said, "If it is true and the Rokador have been holding back the water, I believe that Saint Dane has somehow convinced them to do so."

It was so simple. If the Rokador had the power to hold back the water, then it made all sorts of sense that somehow, some way Saint Dane had wormed his way into their confidence and convinced them to do it. That's how he operated. He tricked people of the territories into making bad decisions. And unless Bokka's dying words referred to somebody else named Saint Dane, then the evil demon was down there. It was now more clear than ever that if we had any hope of stopping this war, we had to go to Kidik. "What about my stave?" I asked.

Loor reached outside the doorway and retrieved my familiar, worn stave. Osa's stave. She hadn't forgotten to bring it. I felt its weight, flipped it over my shoulder and into the harness. I was ready to go.

"This is gonna be tough," I said. "A Ghee and a half aren't going to be welcomed by the Rokador with flowers and songs."

"We will reach Kidik," Loor said confidently. "Have faith. You have learned from the best."

I had to smile. Loor's confidence was infectious. It was starting to rub off on me a little too.

Saangi said, "I will say again, I should come with you."

Loor actually softened and said, "Saangi, I wish you could. I truly do. But Alder is in danger here. As soon as he is able to move, you must get him back to the flume. The battle against Saint Dane is not about Zadaa. It is about Halla. Alder must be kept safe."

Saangi nodded. She hated to, but she nodded.

"It has been an honor to serve you," Saangi said to Loor.

"You have my eternal thanks," Loor responded.

"Whoa, time out," I said. "Don't go saying that like you're never gonna see each other again. We'll be back."

I thought I caught a small tear forming in Saangi's eye. Truth was, she might not see Loor again. Not if we got caught in the middle of this war. My words didn't comfort her in the slightest. They sounded kind of hollow to me, too.

"Pendragon," Saangi said, "I may be short in my manner, but I want you to know that I believe in you. If there is a chance of stopping this war, you and Loor will find it."

"Thanks for that, Saangi," I said. "And for everything."

I gave Alder a quick touch on the shoulder. I didn't want to wake him. He needed the sleep. I wished he were coming with us.

"Let's go," I said.

We were soon jogging through the dark, rainy streets of Xhaxhu, headed for the building that would lead us down into the depths of the Rokador tunnel system, near the flume. It was a familiar route. Loor didn't have to direct me. We found the building, entered the doorway, and descended down the spiraling ramp that brought us into the underground. Once we were below, the concept of day and night went away. The lighting was always the same. The domes embedded in the walls gave off the same, soft yellow light whether it was midday or midnight. We didn't stop to talk until we had walked through the abandoned water-control station, and emerged into the vast chamber that used to hold the raging river. Even with all the rain, there was only a small bit of water trickling along the dry riverbed. I had to admit, this looked bad for the Rokador. I was now convinced that they really were playing games with the water.

"Do we have a plan?" I asked Loor.

She took out the map that Bokka had given us. I took another look at the complicated labyrinth of tunnels and the route marked in red.

"What are those?" I asked, pointing to several unique sketches that showed up every so often along the route. They were all different. Some were slashes across the tunnels. Others showed what looked like small structures off to the side.

"I do not know," Loor answered. "But we will find out."

"Which way?" I asked.

"Bokka's route begins at the crossroads," she said. "We must go through those large doors to begin our journey."

"So right off the bat, we've got to go through a team of Tiggen guards who were a.s.signed to make sure n.o.body goes through those doors because there is a major water transfer-control machine on the other side?"

"Yes."

"Just checking."

We started off, retracing the route that Bokka had led us on when we first went to the crossroads. I got confused pretty quickly. There were many turns and options. But Loor knew where she was going. I followed as if I did too.

"If we meet with resistance," Loor said, "listen for my commands."

"No problem, you're the pro," I said.

I was actually feeling pretty confident. When we were attacked by the Tiggen guards before, I did all right. I was getting more used to Osa's stave, so I felt sure I could put a little more "oomph" behind it this time. On the other hand, there wasn't much we could do to defend ourselves if that a.s.sa.s.sin were there and he started shooting those steel arrows. We had to watch out for that dude. In a few minutes we arrived at the final tunnel that opened out into the large cavern called the crossroads. My heart sank when I saw that there were three Tiggen guards in front of the door. The road to Kidik was through those guys, and the doors they were guarding. The only good news was that the guy with the crossbow was nowhere to be seen.

"They are not alert," Loor whispered.

"How do you know that?" I whispered back.

"From the way they are standing," she answered. "Either they have been on duty for a long time, or they do not believe they will be attacked. Possibly both."

"Tell me what to do," I said.

"Fight," she said, and took off running for the guards.

Just like that. No plan. No sneaking around. No coordination. No signals. Just an all-out, frontal attack. I pulled out my stave and followed.

I shouldn't have doubted Loor. She actually did have a plan, and it was the only one possible. The crossroads was a large, empty cavern with nothing but the two huge wooden doors that were being guarded, and a number of tunnels that led off to other points. The tunnel we had come out of was directly across from the wooden doors. There was nowhere to hide. No place to sneak and get closer without being seen. Loor made the only choice possible. She ran quickly and silently for the guards. If she was right, and they were not alert, we'd get pretty close before they even realized what was happening. If she was wrong, well, ouch.

Loor was right. She moved so quickly and so quietly that she was nearly on the first guard before he knew it. He never even got the chance to go for his weapon before Loor swung her stave. She knocked him to the ground with one shot, out cold. The other guards were just as slow to react. Loor targeted the next guy while I took the third. Neither of them even reacted to their buddy getting beaned. I figured my guy would pull out his steel baton and wait until I got close enough so he could dig it into my ribs and zap me. I didn't give him the chance. Just before I reached him, I dropped to the ground and swung my stave at ankle level. I was hoping to get him to reach down to protect himself, but it turned out even better. The stave hit his ankles and the guy toppled. He was on his back before I finished the swing. I brought the stave back, ready to drill the guy when I heard, "Pendragon, stop!"

It was Loor. I froze, but kept my eye on the Tiggen guard. I didn't want him to pull a sneak attack when I was looking away.Ihad learned my lesson, over and over again, that I had to keep my eye on my opponent. As I stood there with my stave raised and ready to strike, I saw something odd. The Tiggen guard still hadn't moved. As he lay on his back, he didn't even turn to look up at me.Ifigured he might have hit his head on the way down and been knocked senseless.

"Relax, Pendragon," Loor said calmly. "They will not give us trouble."

A closer look at my opponent revealed something eerie. His face looked frozen. Almostadead. My heart raced. HadIkilled the guy? There was no way. All I did was sweep out his feet. Loor walked over to the guy, reached down, and yanked back the white hood that covered his head.

"Dummies!"Iexclaimed.

His face was a cloth mask. A quick look back showed me that all the guards were fake. They had been propped up to look as if they were guarding the doors. From a distance, the effect was pretty good. Now I knew how we got so close without them reacting. The word that came to mind was "scarecrows."

"Ido not understand," Loor said. "Why would they no longer have real guards protecting such a valuable piece of machinery? Did Bokka not say they feared the first attack would be here?"

"I don't know,"Isaid. "But we can find out."

I walked up to the large wooden doors. There was a heavy lock on the handle, but it was no match for Osa's stave. With two quick whacks I knocked it open.

"Let's see what's so important in here," I said as I grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. It was heavy. No big surprise since the door had to be twenty feet high and made out of wood that looked to be four inches thick. But it swung easily on its hinges. I was about to peek inside when Loor pulled me back.

"Careful," she said.

She took the lead. It didn't hurt my ego. Whatever nastiness might be waiting on the other side, she was better equipped to deal with it than I was. I grabbed my stave, exhaled, and took my first step onto the map, and into the fire.

JOURNAL #22.

(CONTINUED).

ZADAA.

Whatwe saw beyond the door made no sense. Like Bokka said, there was another one of those water-control machines. And it was awesome. It had tobe four times the size of the one back at the waterfall-that-was-no-longer-a-waterfall. The pipes that pa.s.sed through this monster had to be six feet wide. There was no doubt that this was a major piece of machinery.

But it was shut down. And the cavern that held it was empty. There wasn't a Rokador in sight.

"Strange," I said. "I thought they were all sorts of worried about the Batu getting control of this."

I walked to the monstrous device to get a better look. The gauges all registered zero. It made no sound. I touched it. It was as still as a rock. Stranger still, there had to be several dozen valve controls, but all of the k.n.o.bs and levers were gone. All that was left were small stems where the levers used to be. I ran my finger across several of the gauges, wiping a clear path through a thick layer of dust.

"This thing hasn't been used in a long time," I said.

"There has not been water in a long time," Loor commented.

"So why were they guarding it yesterday?" I asked. "And why did Bokka tell you this was such an important piece of machinery?"

Loor didn't know any more than I did. I took a look past the machine to see that this cavern narrowed down into a small tunnel that led deeper into the underground.

"I guess that's the Yellow Brick Road," I said.

"The what?" Loor asked.

"The way to Kidik." Note to self: Stop making clever Second Earth references.

Loor glanced at the map and said, "Here. The first of the strange markings."

She showed me the map. I could see the big cavern with the monster water-control device. There might as well have been a note saying:you are here. I could also see on the map where the cavern narrowed down to a small tunnel opening, just as it was in front of us. The odd thing was that on the map there were three X's across the mouth of the smaller tunnel.

"Any idea what it means?" I asked.

Loor shook her head. We kept our weapons ready and began our journey to Kidik, the capital city of the Rokador world. We walked quickly to the far end of the cavern, stopping just short of the opening to the smaller tunnel. After a quick look around I announced, "No X's here." I took a step through the opening. The instant I broke the plane, I heard a rumbling sound. I had triggered something.

"C'mon!" I shouted, and leaped through.

Loor didn't hesitate and jumped after me. Her quick reaction saved her life. The instant she entered the tunnel, a series of steel spikes shot down like spears from above, closing off the opening. If Loor had been a hair slower, she would have been skewered. We stood together, holding each other, breathing hard. The opening to the tunnel was now cut off by the spikes that had become vertical bars.

"Good news-bad news," I said. "The route to Kidik may be b.o.o.by-trapped."

"b.o.o.by-trapped?" Loor said, confused.