hand to see what the mysterious object was.
His first thought was that it was beautiful. He had never seen anything like it. It wasn’t a stone, or a marble. Not even close. There was some fine workmanship involved in making this treasure. It had to be valuable. No doubt about that. Did it belong to one of the doctors? Why would they give it to him? Alexander raised the object up to his face to give it a closer look.
It was a silver ring with a large gray stone set in the center. Surrounding the stone were markings-ten in all. They were like no letters Alexander had ever seen. They were more like ancient characters from some unknown language. He turned the ring over in his hand and stared at the gray stone. It didn’t look like a valuable jewel. It was definitely cut and polished, but the stone itself was gray and drab.
Though not for long. As he looked at it, the stone began to sparkle. This didn’t frighten Alexander, or even surprise him. The stone transformed from opaque gray to brilliant crystal. The light that flickered inside it seemed alive. Alexander looked deep into this magical gem, and smiled.
“Maybe it is a miracle,” he said to himself.
He would have continued staring into the flickering light if something else hadn’t grabbed his attention. Another shadow flashed by the window overhead. This time it didn’t continue on. Alexander looked up to see that something had stopped to rest on a branch just outside the glass. It was a large black bird. A raven. Alexander couldn’t tell for sure, but it felt to him as if the dark bird was looking down at him.
“This isn’t a dream, is it?” he said softly in the general direction of the bird.
As if in answer, the raven let out a sharp caw! and flew off.
DENDURON
Alder made his way quickly towardthe Milago village, trying not to be seen by anyone who might know him. He needed to understand what was happening before being swept up in the activity. Better yet, he wanted to avoid anything to do with this kind of activity. He was still a Bedoowan knight, and the knights were assembling for battle. He would be expected to join his troop. Worse, he might be punished for not being there already. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to be on his own. Whatever was going on, he was absolutely certain that it had something to do with Saint Dane and the battle for Halla. The reappearance of the quigs on top of the mountain had told him that. He had to think like a Traveler now, not a Bedoowan knight. For that, he had to steer clear of his comrades.
Alder found a spot in a grove of trees not far from the edge of the forest that led up into the mountains. From there he had a clear view of the activities below. Hundreds of knights were assembling in the large area between the Milago village and the ruins of the Bedoowan castle. They marched in formation, forty at a time, locked in step. Some carried spears and shields. Others had bows, with quivers of arrows strapped to their backs. Two troops of knights on horseback appeared and took up positions on either side of the assembling army. They were followed by a long line of what looked to Alder like cannons being wheeled in and positioned to the rear. This last was the most disturbing image of all. There weren’t supposed to be cannons on Denduron. The weapons they used were primitive. Spears, arrows, rocks, wooden staves-all were common to the Bedoowan knights of Denduron. Cannons were not.
What had happened since he’d left with Pendragon for Ibara? How long had he been gone? By his own clock, Alder had only been gone for a few days. But when he left, there weren’t this many Bedoowan knights on Denduron. Now the number of armored knights looked to have tripled. Alder thought he saw some Milago farmers in uniform, as well as the white-skinned Novans, who seemed to have been pressed into service as well. And then there were the cannons. Weapons like that could not be developed from scratch in a few days. No, Alder was beginning to realize that he had returned to Denduron at a time far into the future. But how far? Why had the flume done that? Why were his people preparing for battle, and with whom?
He remembered the final image he saw floating in space before the flume set him down. He saw another army gathering. The primitive tribe that lived on the far side of the mountain from the Milago village were known as the Lowsee. There was never trouble between the Lowsee and the Bedoowan and Milago, yet seeing that image of the Lowsee in armor and waving spears made Alder fear the worst. Were they about to attack? Or were the Bedoowan knights preparing to march over the mountain and invade the Lowsee? There were so many questions, and only one answer as to why all these changes had occurred.
Alder felt certain he knew what that answer was.
Boom!
He jumped at the sound of a far-off explosion. Had the battle begun? He looked to the assembled knights. Nobody seemed to be concerned about the eruption, They kept in line without moving. The first explosion was followed by another, and another. Alder realized the sounds were coming from the training ground, where the Milago had prepared to battle the Bedoowan so long ago. Whatever was happening there, it was only training. The explosions confirmed Alder’s fears. He didn’t know why the Bedoowan were preparing for war, but he knew what lit the fuse. Tak.
He had helped Pendragon and Siry use the incredible digging device from Zadaa to find a new vein of the explosive compound beneath the surface of Denduron. It was the only way to battle Saint Dane’s army of dados-the only way to save Ibara. The gamble had worked. Ibara was saved. But what of Denduron? Tak was as tempting as it was powerful. When the Milago miners originally discovered it, they had planned to use it against the Bedoowan to win their freedom. But that wouldn’t have been the end of it. Rellin, the leader of the miners, spoke of tak as being the tool that would create a powerful empire. The Milago had lived for generations as slaves. They were angry, and justifiably so. Their anger was not going to dissipate once they had defeated the Bedoowan. They planned to march on the rest of Denduron, conquering tribes and putting them under the rule of the Milago. But they never got the chance, for the Travelers realized that the discovery of tak was the turning point for Denduron. Saint Dane wanted the Milago to use tak. The Travelers didn’t.
The Travelers won. Pendragon exploded the tak mine in such spectacular fashion that it not only destroyed the Bedoowan castle, it shattered the Milago village as well. With both their worlds in shambles, the Milago and the Bedoowan were forced to end their rivalry and rebuild, together. Most important, the eruption buried the vein of tak so deep that it ended any temptation to create an army that could use its destructive power. The explosive tak was unreachable by any tools or methods known to Denduron.
Until Pendragon and Siry showed up with a dygo from Zadaa.
Was it possible that the unearthing of the tak had created another turning point for Denduron? Had all that was accomplished, all that was risked to end the bitter dispute between the two tribes been for naught? Did Saint Dane get a second chance? From where Alder stood, it looked sickeningly possible.
He crept cautiously closer to the parade ground, keeping to the safe shadows of the trees. As he grew closer, he saw two people arrive on horseback to address the knights. One he recognized instantly as Rellin, the chief miner of the Milago who had led the revolution against the Bedoowan. For his strong leadership, Rellin was elected to lead the Milago during the rebuilding process. Alder’s heart sank when he saw that Rellin wore the armor of a Bedoowan knight. Worse. His armor was decorated with bright yellow stripes on each arm. Under his left arm he held a leather helmet that had a bright yellow plume of feathers attached to the back. Rellin looked as rugged as Alder remembered, but now his hair was combed back and neat. His horse was beautiful, with its own leather armor gleaming in the sun. Rellin looked every bit like a proud general who wore armor for show, rather than for protection.
On the horse next to him was a woman Alder didn’t recognize. He moved a few yards closer to get a better look and stopped short, unbelieving. The woman wore a flowing white dress, with a ring of yellow flowers in her hair. The flowers surrounded a simple silver crown. It was Kagan, queen of the Bedoowan. What surprised Alder was how she looked. The Kagan that Alder knew was, by all accounts, grotesque. Everything about her was huge. Her eyes, her nose, her hands and feet-all freakishly immense. Not anymore. This queen had lost a lot of weight. By Alder’s estimation, Kagan had lost an entire Kagan. She wasn’t pretty by any means, but she was no longer beastly. Just the fact that her clothes were no longer covered by greasy food stains helped her to look more human. It also helped that she wasn’t constantly stuffing her face with various meat products. She sat on her horse with a serene expression as she watched Rellin address the troops.
