right choice.
He added, “I was going on emotion and anger. We all were. We fired each other up, convincing ourselves that we were doing the right thing. Now they’re dead and I’m sitting in a strange machine on the other side of somewhere, about to do it again. You tell me. Was it right to steal that ship?”
“It was,” I said with confidence. “If the Jakills hadn’t made that trip, we wouldn’t be preparing Ibara for the attack.”
Siry nodded thoughtfully. “I guess that’s true. I just hope we’re not doing anything that will make things even worse.”
That ticked me off. I was trying to save his home. His people. How could he question me?
“Are you with me or not?” I asked angrily.
“I’m with you, Pendragon,” he said. “To the end, whatever that will be.”
Discussion over. I twisted the sphere away from the river to face the opposite wall of the cavern-the wall that contained the tunnel that led to the flume. I twisted the handle of one joystick. The drill settled down in front of us. Squeezing the trigger got the drill rings spinning. With a low whine, the sharp cutting device came to life. It was the moment of no return. Once we started digging, there would be no turning back.
I pushed forward. The drill dug into the wall. Siry leaned back in his seat as if to get away, expecting dirt and rock to hit us. Of course, that didn’t happen. The drill cut through easily and we were on our way, forging a new tunnel beneath the sands of Zadaa. We churned through solid rock, occasionally passing through one of the existing tunnels. I kept pushing the machine forward, guessing at the distance we had to travel. After a minute of digging, I angled the dygo downward, and we descended. The only guide I had to know we were headed the right way was my sense of direction, and my Traveler ring. It wasn’t long before the gray stone began to twinkle. We were getting closer to the flume. It didn’t take long before we blasted through the last wall of rock and drove into the familiar cavern. I stopped to catch my breath. I was sweating. Not from exertion, from nerves.
Siry looked worse than I felt.
“That was interesting,” he said with a weak smile.
I spun the sphere around to see the tunnel we had just dug. It wasn’t subtle. All across Halla the flumes were hidden in areas that were next to impossible for people to accidentally find. That wasn’t the case on Zadaa anymore. People were bound to discover the new tunnel. They were going to see the flume. By breaking through that rock, I had broken down another barrier between the territories. I was definitely playing Saint Dane’s game now.
“This machine is a wonder,” Siry gasped. “How will it help us beat the dados?”
“It won’t. Not directly.”
I spun the dygo 180 degrees until we faced the mouth of the flume. I nudged it forward. The treads rolled slowly, until the tunnel to infinity filled our window.
Siry looked at me with confusion. “Then why are we taking it to Ibara?”
“We’re not. At least not yet. We’ve got another stop.” “Where?” Siry asked with wide eyes. I took a deep breath and called out, “Denduron!” The flume sparkled to life. We drove into the tunnel, and the beginnings of a new Halla.
(CONTINUED)
IBARA
There were two flume gates on Denduron. I had no way of knowing which one we’d be dumped at. One was on top of the snowy mountain that loomed above the Milago village. The other was buried deep below the ground, under tons of rock. Access to that flume had been destroyed when the vein of tak exploded, decimating the glaze mines. Either way, we were prepared. The dygo would either get us down from the mountain or dig us out of the crushed mine tunnels. Getting out of the gate was the least of my worries.
Flying through a flume inside a vehicle was a new experience. If we weren’t on such a dire mission, I’d almost say it was fun. I had no control over the flight, so I let go of the joysticks. The power of the flume sent us along. The only view we had was through the narrow window in front of the dygo. Just as well. I didn’t want to look out onto the sea of time and space beyond the crystal walls and see any changes that might have happened after what we did on Zadaa.
Since we were sealed inside the dygo, I couldn’t hear the musical notes of the flume. They usually gave me the warning that we were nearing the end of a journey. I had to keep my eyes ahead to look for signs of our arrival. I was afraid we’d hit the gate that was buried, and smash against a wall of rock.
I didn’t mention that to Siry. He had enough to deal with.
After traveling for several minutes, I decided not to take any chances and fired up the drill bit of the dygo. I figured the drill would chew us through anything. As it turned out, I didn’t have to worry. No sooner did the drill start spinning than we were dumped at the mouth of the flume. Bright light flashed in through the narrow window of our digging sphere. Wherever we were, it wasn’t under tons of rock.
“Let’s get out,” I said, and popped the hatch.
It was a familiar sight. We were in the cave on top of the mountain, where I had first set foot on a territory other than my own. Denduron. I immediately thought of Uncle Press. I wondered what he would think about what I was doing. It wasn’t a happy thought, so I stopped thinking it.
“Now where are we?” Siry asked. He sounded tired. I didn’t think anything would surprise him anymore.
“Denduron is the first territory where the Travelers beat Saint Dane,” I explained. “Here, put these on.”
There was a pile of leather and fur clothing near the flume. I didn’t care about blending into the territory. It wasn’t going to matter what we were wearing, if somebody saw us rolling along in a silver dygo. There would be no blending in on Denduron. I was more concerned about the weather. We were wearing lightweight tropical clothing from Ibara. We’d freeze on Denduron. I dumped my Ibara clothes into the dygo and once again strapped on the leathers of Denduron. I noticed a difference right away. The clothes were much better made than when I had been there before. It was the first sign that the Milago had improved their lives after Saint Dane was defeated. There would be more.
“This area has two tribes/’ I explained. “The Milago and the Bedoowan. The Milago are farmers. The Bedoowan are more evolved and intellectual. They lived in a slick castle-city where they commanded an army that treated the Milago like slaves. The farmers were forced to mine a precious mineral called glaze, which was the basis for the wealth of the Bedoowan. The mines were treacherous, and the Milago were dying off. They revolted and the Bedoowan were defeated. The Traveler here is named Alder. He’s a Bedoowan. He’s told me that the two tribes now live in peace. The Bedoowan provide modern expertise, the Milago more practical skills. Bottom line is that Saint Dane was stopped for the first time here.
We finished getting dressed by strapping on leather-soled shoes. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the clothes were almost comfortable. The leather was soft and well crafted. I’m not so sure I would have needed my boxers even if I had them. Which I didn’t. We climbed back aboard the dygo. I fired it up and gently nudged the vehicle forward. We rolled through the cave and out into the bright light of Denduron. Our first sight was the vast field of snow where the quig beasts had attacked Uncle Press and me. I’m happy to say there were no quig spines sticking out from the snow. Like on Zadaa, the quigs wouldn’t bother us here. The turning point had passed.
The dygo rolled easily across the snow, making deep tracks. Siry was mostly silent, taking in the awesome view of the majestic, snow-capped mountains that surrounded us. It really was a beautiful territory. Rugged, but beautiful. He only made one comment during our descent to the Milago village.
“Am I crazy?” he asked as he looked up at the sky.
“No,” I chuckled. “There are three suns.”
Siry blinked and sat back in his seat. The guy was dazed. When he set out with the Jakills to learn the truth, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.
As we got lower, the snow gave way to grass. I stopped the dygo, and we got out to survey the scene. We stood high above the valley, looking down on the new Milago village. My last view of this place had shown nothing but devastation. The explosion of the mines destroyed the Bedoowan castle and tore apart the countryside. Much of
