Fourteen came to my room as soon as the sun was up. I was dressed and ready.
“Is there anything I can do for you before the competition begins?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Tell Miss Winter that I need to speak with her as soon as possible.”
If anything happened to me, Nevva needed to know what was going on with Veego and LaBerge. She needed to know that Saint Dane had brought them from Veelox and that they were importing items and ideas from other territories. As dramatic as everything else was that was happening on Quillan, Veego and LaBerge’s operation spelled the biggest trouble for all of Halla.
“Of course,” Fourteen said.
The two of us walked silently from my room, down through the castle, and out into the forest. The whole time I worked on staying focused on the games. As confident as I was, all that Veego revealed to me the night before had me rattled. If there were ever a time that I needed to keep my head on straight and not let anything distract me, it was then. But it was tough. I hoped that once the competition began, I’d be locked into the moment and all the other worries would go away. If they didn’t, I’d be in trouble.
Fourteen led me along a windy path until we came to a grassy clearing that was roughly the size of a tennis court. There was nothing special about the place. There were no markings or apparatus. Standing across from me on the far side was Challenger Green, along with his service dado, who looked just like Fourteen. I gave Green a slight nod. He scowled at me. He didn’t like that I had stolen his thunder. I hoped I could use his anger to my advantage. If we were going to be playing with emotion, I had to be cool. Anger led to mistakes. My confidence rose…
Until I saw what the first game was going to be. Any hope I had of putting aside my worries about what impact this would have on the rest of Halla was shot to pieces. First off, this wasn’t a game that Nevva had prepped me for. But that was okay. I had played this game before many times. I was good at it. But that was also the bad news. I had played this game before… on the territory of Zadaa. As soon as I saw the equipment, I knew that Veego and LaBerge had been to Zadaa. It was another case of worlds being mingled.
I had to force that worry out of my head as Fourteen helped me on with the gear. He gave me stretchy bands that fit above my biceps and above my knees. Each of these bands had a round red peg attached on one end that was about ten inches long and stuck out like red horns. He also gave me a lightweight helmet with the same kind of peg sticking up from the top. I knew what the final piece would be before seeing it. It was a heavy wooden stave about six feet long. When Fourteen handed it to me, I felt its weight and thought it was a pretty good replica of the weapons they had on Zadaa. For all I knew, it had actually come from Zadaa.
“Good luck, Pendragon,” Fourteen said.
“Piece of cake,” I said, and winked at him. I had grown to really like Fourteen. Unlike everything and everyone else I encountered on Quillan, there was no mystery about him.
Veego and LaBerge appeared out of the forest, dressed for the big event. Veego had on her purple jumpsuit, but this one was trimmed in gold. LaBerge was much more flamboyant, with a multicolored robe that made him look like the king of Gumdrop Mountain. Neither looked happy. Even LaBerge wasn’t his normal, bubbly, annoying self. Veego motioned for her brother to go to the center of the clearing while she came to me. I didn’t like the look in her eyes. I couldn’t tell if it was anger or fear. Whatever it was, she was trying her best to keep her emotions in check.
“Nice day for a beating, don’t you think?” I asked cheerily.
“It won’t work,” she said through clenched teeth.
“What won’t work?” I asked.
“You won’t destroy these games,” she snarled.
“What’s your problem?” I said innocently. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’m ready to compete.”
“There has been next to no wagering… on either of you!” she said as her head started to shake with pent-up rage. Tears of anger formed in her eyes. But she stayed in control. “This is the Grand X! Wagering is normally tripled. It seems as if you’re insidious little speech had some effect.”
It took a lot for me not to smile. It wasn’t my speech alone that had done it. It was the revivers. They turned the Grand X into a contest that was about showing Blok they were ready to take back control of their lives. My confidence rose again. There was a real chance that the people of Quillan could turn things around. I decided not to say that to Veego.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” I said. “Maybe they’re waiting for later in the competition. You know, to see how things are going.”
“You had better be right!” she snapped as she turned and walked toward LaBerge.
Fourteen said, “I have never seen her so angry.”
“Stick around,” I said. “It’s early.”
When she got to the center of the field, Veego motioned for Challenger Green and me to join her and LaBerge. The two of us strode to the center of the grassy playing field from opposite pegs on. They were, of course, green. Duh. His eyes were locked on mine. He was doing his best to psyche me. I kept my face blank.
“I will explain the rules,” Veego said.
“Don’t bother,” I said. “I know how to play.”
I saw Green stiffen slightly. Oops. Maybe I had been too cocky. I didn’t want to tip my hand.
He snarled, “I know too. Let’s go.”
“Very well,” Veego said. “Begin on the horn.”
Veego and LaBerge walked away, but as they left, LaBerge stopped and gave me a confused look. “How do you know this game?” he asked.
“Didn’t you know? I’m an honorary Batu,” I said.
“You are?” LaBerge said with shock. He looked quickly to Veego for a reaction. She didn’t give any. Obviously LaBerge didn’t remember me from Veelox, and Veego didn’t bother to remind him.
I focused on Challenger Green. The guy had no idea what he was in for. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. I had seen the Batu warriors of Zadaa play this game many times. I had watched Loor triumph. When she put me through training at the Mooraj camp, we played this game constantly. You know the rules. The idea is to use your wooden stave to knock the wooden pegs off your opponent. The first one to knock off all the pegs wins. Simple as that.
Green and I locked eyes. He said, “You shouldn’t have come back.”
“Why?” I asked. “Are you afraid of losing?”
I saw his eyes widen. I had touched a nerve. This was going to be fun. I clutched my stave and bent my legs slightly. I felt totally comfortable. It was like riding a bike.
The horn sounded, and Green charged me so hard and fast that I didn’t have time to react. He drilled his head into my chest and knocked me flat on my back, hammering the air out of my lungs. Green tossed aside his stave and wrestled me to get at the pegs. I guess I could say that he wasn’t playing fair, but I didn’t think there was any such thing as fair in these games. If I didn’t do something fast, this fight would be over before it even got started. He had already pulled off two pegs and was going for the third, when I drilled my elbow into his jaw. He wasn’t expecting that and rolled off. I rolled the other way and scrambled to get back to my feet.
Green didn’t give me time to recover. He charged again, without his stave. This guy wasn’t about finesse. His plan was to use brute force to beat me. He was like an angry charging bull. I bent over as if trying to get my breath, but I was waiting for him. He screamed as he lunged. I drove my staye forward and caught him in the gut.
“Oooph,” he grunted in pain.
I pulled my stave back and expertly spun it left, then right, knocking off both his arm pegs. It was pretty clear how this fight would go. It was style versus strength. Green wisely backed away or it would have been over right there. He clutched at his gut and looked at me with fiery eyes.
“You use that weapon like you’ve been trained,” he said.
“You think?” I shot back.
Green scooped up his stave and came at me, more cautiously this time. He held the stave low, pointing one end at me like he was going to poke me with it. I almost laughed. The guy didn’t have a clue. He jabbed at me a few times, but I flicked his attacks away easily. I was getting my breath back now. All I had to do was wait for him to make a mistake, which he did pretty quickly. He took a few steps back, then threw the stave at me like a spear. He followed right behind it, charging at me while screaming out a horrifying war cry. Yeah, right. Nice try.
I knocked the spear away easily. When he lunged at me, I faked a swing, which made him falter. I then
