“Amazing,” Siry whispered in awe.

I didn’t think it was amazing at all. The amazing thing was that I didn’t question it. As we hurried through the village, I saw that Alder was taking it all in. Analyzing our chances. He didn’t have anything good to say.

“Where is the army?” he asked.

“There is no army” was my sober answer.

“Then who will fight the dados?”

“You’re looking at them,” I answered.

“These people are not prepared for war,” he declared. “They are not trained. How do you plan to fight off an army of machines with fishermen?”

“Now you see why we need the tak” was my answer.

As we got closer to the mountain, I saw that Genj had done what I’d asked. A crowd had formed at the mountain’s base. The security force was rounding up every person in the village who was willing and able to fight. Seeing this crowd of frightened villagers made me realize just how right Alder was. These people had no chance of defending their island.

The tribunal was waiting for us in their cavern room. Telleo was there too. The security guys waved us right in. Man, things had changed. We were no longer outlaws.

“This is Alder,” I announced. “He is a warrior. He can help us.”

When Genj saw us, he frowned. “You went for help and returned with a single man?”

Genj looked skeptical. So did Moman and Drea. Telleo didn’t look so thrilled either. That was okay. They didn’t know Alder.

“There’s no way to know how long we have,” I said. “We need to form our defense now.”

“I don’t understand,” Moman said. “The Flighters have already attacked. The pilgrim ships are destroyed. Why would they attack again?”

“It’s not the Flighters we have to worry about,” I explained. “There is an army gathered on Rubic City that is going to invade Ibara. They are worse than Flighters. They’re machines.”

Genj and the others stared at me as if I were from Neptune. Or wherever it was crazy people came from on Veelox.

“I’ve seen it,” Siry added. “They’re going to come here on small ships. Thousands of them.”

Genj asked, “And who is this person who controls the army? The man who killed Remudi?”

“He’s the leader of the Flighters,” I answered. It was only a small lie. He was leading the Flighters. Of course, he had bigger plans than that, but I didn’t want to go there just then. Or ever. The tribunal exchanged looks. They still needed convincing.

“Look,” I said sharply. “Either let us help you, or everything you’ve worked for, everything your ancestors worked to build, everything Aja Killian envisioned for Ibara is going to be destroyed. The choice is yours.”

That stung them.

“I believe Pendragon,” Telleo said. “The Flighters have destroyed our future. Why do we doubt they’ll stop there?”

“We aren’t warriors,” Genj declared.

“I know,” I said. “We’ve got to be smart… and lucky.”

It was time to prepare for the defense of Ibara. My idea of bringing tak was to use it as a weapon against the dados. My thoughts didn’t go much beyond that. Having Alder around suddenly seemed like a brilliant idea. He knew tactics. He was part of an army. Okay, it was an army of knights, but it was still an army. We spread out the maps of Ibara that Aja had given me on the tribunal’s table and huddled around.

“Where did you get these?” Genj asked in surprise.

“Rubic City” was my simple answer. I didn’t mention that it was Rubic City a few hundred years before, and that they were handed to me by Aja Killian. That would have made his brain melt.

Scanning the map, I immediately recognized the large bay where Rayne was constructed. Alder leaned in close, surveying the details of the island.

“There is only one place on the island where a large invasion can land,” Alder concluded. “Here in the bay.”

“That’s why Rayne was built here,” Genj explained. “It is the only workable port. The rest of the island is ringed by rocky cliffs and treacherous beaches.”

“Then we know where to put our defenses,” Alder said. He pointed to several red squares that were positioned in the water just outside the bay. “And what are these?”

Moman answered, “They are the guns the military installed generations ago. They are positioned to defend the entrance to the bay.”

Alder looked to me. He wasn’t familiar with guns.

“They fire automatically?” I asked.

“No,” Genj answered. “They are controlled and maintained by our security force from here in the mountain.”

“We’ll need to see how they work,” I said.

Genj shook his head. He didn’t like something. “This is difficult for us. From the time Ibara was settled, the tribunals have kept the military workings of this island a secret from the population. The guns have rarely been used, and then only at night for training.”

“Genj,” I said, trying to sound patient. “Do you seriously believe, after what happened to the pilgrims, that there is a single person left in Rayne who doesn’t know about those guns?”

Genj looked to Moman and Drea with anguish. I felt for them. They had dedicated their lives to following the guidelines set by Aja Killian centuries before. They were now learning that it no longer mattered. Their mission had changed from one of hope, to one of desperation.

“Continue,” he finally said to me.

“What is this thing?” I pointed to a thick, dark line that ran directly beneath the village, parallel to the beach.

“A tunnel,” Genj answered. “The military used it to store weapons.”

“Is anything left down there?” I asked hopefully. ‘Any weapons I mean?”

“No,” Genj answered. “They were destroyed when the military abandoned the island.”

“What other weapons do you have?” Alder asked.

Siry answered. “Blowguns. With poison tips.”

Alder and I exchanged dark looks. “Not a lot of good they’ll do against machines,” I said.

Genj added, “We also have bows that fire arrows longer distances. Would they help?”

Alder actually perked up after hearing that. “They will” he declared.

I knew what he was thinking. Arrows could deliver tak. “We must not waste time,” Alder concluded. “I have a plan.”

The plan was one part genius, one part clever, and eight parts desperation. The only real hope we had of defending the island was to pick off the dados as they landed. Our only advantage was that we could hide our defenses. The dados had to come at us. We would be waiting.

The first thing we did was address the people of Rayne in the large, outdoor theater. The place was jammed with anxious, frightened people. They had all seen the pilgrim ships being attacked. It didn’t take much to convince them that another attack was imminent. Genj did the talking, telling the people they weren’t the last of a dying world, they were the first of a new world. He gave them both hope and fear-hope for a new beginning and fear that they wouldn’t get the chance unless they defended the island. He was good. I had new respect for the guy. He wanted to do what was right for his people. I could argue that the people of Ibara should never have been kept in the dark for so long, but that wasn’t Genj’s fault. He was only following the instructions handed down for generations. Instructions that came from Aja. How weird was that?

Genj introduced Alder and me to the crowd. He told them how we had come from across the sea with the know-how to defend Ibara. Genj told them to follow our orders as if we were on the tribunal ourselves.

He put the trust of the people and the future of Ibara square into our hands.

Many things needed to be done quickly. Alder gave Telleo the task of organizing all those who couldn’t fight. That meant the children and the elderly. Several people were assigned to take them away from the village to a secure spot in a village across the island. While that exodus was under way, Siry led a group of thirty people to the

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