they’d ended up here.
I suddenly felt arms around me, squeezing me in a big hug.
“We did it!” Courtney exclaimed.
Yes, Courtney was there too. As we spoke, the rest of the Travelers gathered around us.
“What happened?” I shouted to her. “I don’t get it.”
“The gars and Yanks had voted to join us even before I got back to them!” she shouted above the cheering. “They’d already begun to mobilize when you returned to Solara to create the flume. They completely evacuated Black Water. When they saw the flume you made, every last doubt was erased. Isn’t it amazing? They’re with us, Bobby. They’re with you’.’
I took another look around at the cheering mass of humanity. Their enthusiasm had nothing to do with our trick gig flying. It was a show of support. For us, and for the chance to strike back at Ravinia. It was more than we could have hoped for. No, I take that back. I also hoped that these people would be just as happy when the sun set on that fateful day. On Eelong I had barely missed the evacuation. The entire population must have been moving to the outskirts of the village as I was running into the center. Incredible. I wanted to revel in the moment, and the applause, but we weren’t even close to being done. Our plan was working, but barely.
As the applause died down, I said to Uncle Press, “We dodged a bullet. Saint Dane has made his move. He created a flume. The entire dado army is in Black Water.”
The Travelers exchanged nervous looks.
“Hobey,” Spader gasped. “That was cutting things a might close.”
“Where is the flume?” Uncle Press asked.
“On Eelong it’s on the exact opposite side of Black Water from ours. Here, I don’t know.”
“I do,” came a familiar voice. Mark Dimond stepped up through the crowd. He had an earth-style walkie-talkie pressed to his ear. “It’s directly in front of the Ravinian conclave… just as we thought.”
So far things were working out the way we expected. More or less.
“The clock’s ticking,” Mark cautioned.
There was no time to second-guess and fine-tune. Now that the dados had moved, we had to put our plan into action.
“You ready?” I asked Mark.
“Waiting on your word,” he answered with a clear, strong voice.
Courtney put her arm around him and beamed. “Can you believe how this guy turned out?”
It was an awesome moment. We were back together again. The three of us. We’d been through this entire adventure together in spirit; it was fitting that we were together, for real, at the end.
“We’ve got to go,” Uncle Press said, all business.
“Is Aron here?” I called out.
“Here, Pendragon,” the gar leader replied as he made his way toward us.
Aron and all the gars wore their dark brown clothing. Here on Earth they looked like dwarfs. He joined us, along with the Yank leaders we’d met with earlier.
“I shouldn’t have doubted you, Pendragon,” Aron said. “Forgive me.”
“No, I should be thanking you,” I said. “I wish you could understand the importance of what your people are going to attempt today.”
“We do,” Aron assured me.
Courtney said, “Between the Yanks and the gars, there are roughly forty-five thousand who are able to fight. They’ve been positioned front and center. The young, the sick, and the elderly have been moved to the side streets.”
I looked around at the crowd. The task suddenly seemed overwhelming. Impossible, even. How could we mobilize so many people and get them all moving in the right direction, let alone wage a war? For a second my brain froze at the enormity and, yes, idiocy of what we were about to undertake.
“You look worried, Pendragon,” Aron said. “Do not be. Our fighting force is trained. It does not matter what the battlefield is. We are organized and we are disciplined. There are twenty smaller units, each with its own leader. They in turn have their own subdivisions.” Aron held up a link cube. “We are all in contact. I will remain with you. When an order is given, it will be relayed instantly.”
Gunny asked, “Gars and Yanks? Together?”
Aron said, “We are one. The Yanks have protected our home. Now they have returned to reclaim theirs. The gars will be by their side. There is no other way.”
I couldn’t come up with the words to express to Aron how incredibly brave and selfless his people were. I wanted to tell them that they embodied the spirit of Solara, but he wouldn’t have understood. Or maybe he already did without realizing it.
The gar leader could see that I was overwhelmed. He smiled. “You needed an army to defeat Ravinia? Pendragon, you came to the right place.”
I glanced to Uncle Press. He smiled. He knew. Maybe he always knew.
Mark added, “I assigned five of my guys to each of their groups. They’ll all have somebody with them who has knowledge of the city. And the target.”
“What about the radio cannons?” I asked.
Aron answered, “The evacuation was quick. We weren’t able to bring as many as we’d hoped, but we are armed. Just as you asked.”
Mark added, “We’ve got transportation waiting to bring equipment to the site. But that’s it. I’m afraid the people have to walk.”
I looked to Aron. “You’ll have to move out right away.”
He nodded and said, “We are ready and waiting.”
My mind raced. Had we thought of everything? No, that was impossible. The plan we concocted was incredibly complicated. Anything could go wrong, and if it did, we would fail. But it was the only plan we had. All we could do was move quickly, and hope.
“Maybe you should say something,” I said to Uncle Press. “To these people. Most have no idea what they’re getting into.”
“You’re right,” he replied. “Something should be said. But not by me.”
All eyes were on me. Oops. I suddenly wished I hadn’t come up with such a brilliant idea. Still, I couldn’t argue. This was my show. I had to take responsibility. The job of addressing this army would have to be mine.
“We don’t have loudspeakers, Bobby,” Mark said. “You can’t talk to this many people.”
Aron said, “But you can.” He held out a link radio cube. “Most all of us have a link. Whoever doesn’t, can listen to another’s.”
I wasn’t sure of what to say. Many of these brave people would not live to see another day. They deserved something, if only to hear that whatever the outcome, they had made the right choice. I reached for the cube. My hand was shaking. Aron placed it in my palm. I looked to him and nodded. He activated the link. The amber material glowed.
“Does this work?” I said. “Can you hear me?”
A cheer went up from the crowd. They heard me. It was such a surprise that I nearly dropped the cube.
“Easy there, cowboy,” Courtney said. “You want me to hold it for you?”
I shook my head, gathered my thoughts, and spoke. “You don’t know me. My name is Bobby Pendragon.”
The crowd erupted in cheers again. Maybe some of them did know me. I waited for them to quiet down and continued.
“For many years now, my friends and I have been battling a force I think you are all familiar with. Ravinia.”
The crowd booed. They knew. All too well. I looked up at the group of Travelers who surrounded me. They all gave me nods of encouragement.
“You know of Halla and the worlds that exist around us. What happened on Eelong has happened on each of those other worlds. Look around you. This is the home of the Yanks. It’s not the world they knew. Ravinia has destroyed a once-mighty city. A once-mighty world. We here, today, are the last hope. Not only for this world called Earth. But for Denduron. Zadaa. Quillan. Veelox. Cloral. And for Eelong.”
