The Soldiers of Halla (28 page)

Elli ran to me and crouched down behind the one dado that hadn't been wiped out. I expected him to jump up and make some final stand. Instead, he stayed on top of me. He was carrying out his mission until the end. The other six dados were nearly on us. They stood shoulder to shoulder, their weapons out and ready. I had no doubt that in moments, Elli and I would be back on Solara. Elli grabbed my hand and squeezed, bracing for an attack….

That never came. When the hit squad got to within a few yards of us, they stopped. Just like that. All six stood there staring at us silently. What the heck was going on? We stayed that way for a few seconds. The only sound I heard was my own heavy breathing. I twisted my head around to look up at the dado who was sitting on me. I figured the next move was his.

What I saw didn't add up. It was the first time I took a close look at the robot. He was one of the dados that had been holding Mark up on the gallows platform. Now that I was close to him, I saw that he had the stubble of a beard. He sat staring at the line of dados. There was a long, silent moment.

Then the dado spoke. “Wow,” he said, breathless. “It actually w-worked.” He looked down, gave me a big smile and said, “Can we get out of here now?”

Yeah. It was Mark.

M
y best friend was alive.

He wasn't hanging by his neck inside that silver tube. You'd think I would be hit with an overwhelming sense of relief and joy. Don't get me wrong. I was. But at that moment, the overriding feeling was more one of total confusion.

“Wha—” was pretty much all I managed to gasp.

Mark shrugged. “This is the first time I'm okay with those dados looking like me.”

Elli gasped. “They executed a dado?”

“Yeah. He's probably not even hurt.”

I glanced at the line of dados who had arrived to wipe out our escort party. They stood together, holding their weapons up, waiting for a command.

“They were ordered to protect me,” Mark explained. “Dados are handy to have around, so long as they're on your side.”

I was still in a state of shock. “But…how?”

“Nevva,” Mark said.

“Nevva Winter?” I gasped.

Mark actually laughed. “You know anybody else named Nevva?”

I glanced over at Elli. Judging by the way she looked and the way I felt, we were both pretty stunned by that revelation.

“The plan was hers,” Mark continued. “Nevva saved me.”

The impossible truths kept getting more impossible. I couldn't think fast enough to keep up.

“But why?” I croaked out. “What did she say?”

“Only that she wasn't going to let me die. These dados will protect us until we get to the tunnel out of here, which we should do right now.”

I turned to Elli, thinking she would be even more thrilled by this news than I was. But Elli was gone. I looked around quickly to see that she was several yards away from us, running. She was headed into the Taj Mahal.

“Hey!” Mark shouted to her. Then to me he said, “What is she doing?”

I got to my feet. “She must be going after Nevva.”

“She can't!” Mark went to run after her, but I stopped him.

“No, you gotta get out of here.”

“What? No! You can't go after her. I don't think Nevva's going to protect you too.”

“It doesn't matter. We'll be okay. Elli and I can leave whenever we want. But not with you here. I hate to say it, Mark, but you're a liability.”

“Uh…what?”

“I told you, we don't need flumes to travel anymore. We can just leave. But you can't. If these dados are going to get you to safety, you've got to go.”

Mark weighed my words. I knew he didn't understand, but he wasn't about to ask for an explanation. At least not
then. There wasn't time. We were still surrounded by a world of dados that
weren't
programmed to protect him.

“Go back to your people,” I continued. “Keep searching for the exiles. If we want to help them, we have to find them.”

“And what'll you do?” he asked.

“Get Elli and get out of here. After that, I don't know. We've got to come up with a plan to stop that army of dados.”

I walked to one of the downed dados and picked up his weapon. He wouldn't be needing it anymore.

“So this is it,” Mark said. “The turning point of Third Earth is also the final battle for Halla.”

“It's sure looking like it,” I replied.

I hated to say good-bye. I'd already lost Mark once that day, I didn't want to go through something like that again. “Go,” I said. “We'll find you.”

Mark threw his arms around me. “I wish Courtney were here,” he said, his voice cracking.

I didn't agree, but I didn't say anything. This was actually the
last
place I wanted Courtney to be.

“Get back safe,” I said. “Don't do anything dumb.”

“Dumb? Me? You forget who you're talking to.”

Mark pulled back. There were tears in his eyes. I knew what he was thinking. It felt as if this might be the last time we would ever see each other.

“We'll probably get back before you do,” I said, trying to be light.

Mark nodded, but he didn't believe that any more than I did. “Bobby, I d-don't regret a thing.”

Hearing his stutter made my heart break. This was still Mark Dimond.

“I know, Mark.”

“And I'm proud of you, man.”

“Thanks. And thanks for being my friend.”

Mark shrugged.

“Now go,” I commanded.

Mark nodded and looked at the line of dados. He stood up straight and fixed his Ravinian cap on his head. His new, confident self was back. “C'mon, boys, let's go knock some roboheads.”

The dados turned in a group and followed Mark. He took a few steps backward, gave me a smile, then turned and jogged off. I watched him for a few seconds, hoping I wasn't seeing my best friend for the last time.

I had to pull myself away. Standing there feeling all forlorn wasn't doing anybody any good. I sprinted after Elli. I suppose I should have acted more dadolike, but I didn't care about blending in anymore. I wanted to grab Elli and get the heck out of there. What I told Mark wasn't entirely true. Eventually I planned on joining him, but I didn't want to do it alone. I had to go back to Solara and get Uncle Press. Hopefully the rest of the Travelers would be there as well. If everything was going to play out the way I expected, our final stand was going to be on Third Earth. We had to stop the army of dados before it could march on the exiles, wherever they were. For that, we needed to be together. But first I had to get Elli.

I entered the Taj Mahal on full alert. The place seemed deserted, but I knew it couldn't be. I didn't start yelling out Elli's name. That would have been the quickest way to get some dados landing on my head. As it turned out, the search didn't take long. I made my way through the forest of fancy columns that led to the center of the Taj Mahal,
and heard the soft sound of someone crying. I followed the sound until I came upon a sight that took my breath away. Sitting on a bench between two huge columns was Nevva. She was in the arms of her mother, Elli. Her head was buried in Elli's shoulder. It was Nevva who was crying. Since I had known Elli, dating back to when we first met on Quillan, she had been a troubled woman. Her history was a sad one. She wore every moment of it on her face. She was a beautiful woman, but the many tragedies she had lived through had taken their toll. Her expression rarely varied. I think it was the only way she could keep going. It was as if she had turned off her emotions because none of them were good. As I watched her sitting there, cradling her daughter, I saw a different woman. Her eyes were closed. Her entire being had softened. She was at peace.

I didn't want to disturb the moment. I think Elli must have sensed my presence, because she opened her eyes and saw me. She smiled. Elli actually smiled. She looked alive in a way that I hadn't seen before. I'd been through a lot in these past few years. There were more triumphs and tragedies than I could count. But looking back on it all, I think that simple moment of seeing Elli at peace is the most beautiful thing I ever experienced.

Nevva turned and saw me. She instantly stiffened and stood up. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“I've come for Elli,” I explained. “And to thank you.”

“What I did was for Mark,” Nevva said, trying to regain her composure. “Things haven't changed.”

“But they have,” I said. “Your mother was right, Nevva. You do have a heart.”

Elli watched us, not saying a word. I got the feeling that it didn't matter to her one way or the other how things
would play out from that moment on. The fact that Nevva showed that one small ounce of compassion toward Mark was enough for her to know that her daughter wasn't a monster.

“I still believe in the vision, Pendragon,” she announced.

“But you don't,” I argued. “What you did for Mark proves it. You say that controlling people's lives and rewarding excellence at the expense of those less fortunate is how Halla should be run, but then you show compassion. Real compassion. That's totally against what Saint Dane has been preaching. You care about Mark. Even though he's working against everything Ravinia stands for, you saved his life. That alone proves you believe there's more than one side to a story.”

Nevva wanted to argue, but she knew my logic was sound.

“It wasn't supposed to be like this,” she said, her voice wavering. “I saw all that was wrong with Halla. Saint Dane had the answer. The vision. It was about encouraging people to strive for the absolute best. Nothing less would be tolerated. It's such a simple concept.”

“But Halla isn't a simple place,” I said with passion. “Neither are the people who live there simple. You're one of them, Nevva. You're a Traveler, but you're also a physical being of Halla, with all its flaws.”

Nevva wandered away from her mother. She seemed dazed, as if she couldn't get her thoughts straight.

“Everything that happened is what the people wanted,” she argued.

“But it wasn't!” I countered. “Saint Dane targeted a certain type of person and influenced them. Then he systematically destroyed all those he couldn't persuade. There's no other
way of putting it. What he's left with are people all over Halla who are concerned with only one thing—themselves. Is Halla a better place now? Sure, this conclave is great. I'll bet all the conclaves around Halla are just swell. But that's only a small part of Halla. There are people suffering, Nevva. Everywhere. Does that feel right to you?”

She didn't answer. She didn't have to.

I added, “And now he's going to destroy the last group of people who are keeping the spirit of Solara alive. He's not influencing anybody to do it. He's not using people who believe in his vision. He's created an army of emotionless dados to commit genocide. Is that part of the grand vision?”

Nevva shook her head. I sensed she was trying to find an argument, but couldn't.

“That wasn't supposed to happen,” she said, confused. “The territory was to be left alone. That was the plan.”

“Looks like the plan changed,” I said.

Elli finally spoke. “You put your faith in Saint Dane, and he betrayed you.”

Nevva snapped a look to her mother. If there was one thing I could always say about Nevva, it was that she was confident in her beliefs.

Not anymore.

“I lured them to that stadium,” Nevva said, pained. “Every last one. I made sure they were sent into that flume. But not to die. I didn't know about the dado army, I truly didn't. If I had known, I wouldn't have—”

“You wouldn't have what?” I pressed. “You wouldn't have exiled those people if you knew they were all going to die eventually?”

“No,” Nevva cried. “That's not how it was.”

I kept at her. “What about the rest of Halla? Those exiles
aren't Saint Dane's only victims. You may not have had a direct hand in destroying each and every civilization, but you played a pretty big part. Why is that any different from what happened to the exiles?”

“It was…it was all for the greater good,” she said, grasping. I wasn't so sure she understood what that meant anymore.

“There's still time,” Elli said calmly. “The exiles aren't dead yet. Help us stop Saint Dane.”

An idea came to me. Something I hadn't dared to think about for a long time. The possibility seemed remote at best. Maybe impossible. But suddenly, with Nevva opening up, it felt as if there might be a chance. She knew more about Saint Dane than any of us.

“Nevva, can he be stopped?” I asked.

Nevva looked to me with confusion.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You know what I mean,” I said bluntly. “Can he be destroyed?”

Nevva faltered. She knew something. My instincts were right. My pulse started to race.

“Tell us,” I pushed. “Make this right. Tell us how to beat Saint Dane.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but instead she let out a gasp and fell to her knees.

Behind her, Saint Dane stood with a silver weapon.

“You simply will not give up, will you?” he said, sounding more than a little annoyed.

Nevva fell to the ground, shaking. Was she dead? Was that possible? Had Saint Dane killed her? She wasn't turned to ash, but the weapon had definitely hurt her.

Elli screamed in agony and dove for her daughter.

I, on the other hand, dove for Saint Dane. I wanted to hurt him. I raised my weapon, leaped over Nevva, and attacked. Saint Dane lifted his own wand to defend himself, but I don't think he was ready for the emotion-charged barrage I threw at him. I hammered at the guy, using the wand like an ax. Saint Dane backed off, doing all he could to ward off my blows. He didn't even try to fight back. He couldn't. I didn't give him the chance. Anger took control of me. There was nothing cagey about my attack. The lessons of Mooraj didn't come into play. I channeled all my pent-up emotion into using that silver wand to hammer the guy. I wasn't even sure if the weapon had been activated. It didn't matter. I would have bludgeoned him. In fact, I would have preferred it.

He parried my blows, but he wasn't casual about it. He knew I was serious. I was going to hurt him.

“All you've managed to do,” he said in between the ringing sound of metal hitting metal, “is to kill another Traveler.”

His words charged me up to slash even harder. He was growing tired. His physical self wasn't as strong as mine. For a moment I actually thought I was going to hurt him. I should have known better. Saint Dane threw his wand to the side. I was so surprised by that move, I stopped my attack. The demon stood there with his arms out, as if giving himself up to me.

“Nevva's death is on your conscience, Pendragon,” he said. “It was all for nothing.”

I wound up to finish the guy, and he disappeared. Just like that. He took a step back and was gone. I was thrown for a second, but shouldn't have been. He was a Traveler, after all. Why would he stand there and let me pummel him? I
stood there alone, breathing hard. My pent-up emotion had no outlet. I let out a scream and flung the wand as far as I could. It clattered to the ground somewhere deep within the Taj Mahal. I screamed again. I couldn't keep the frustration and anger inside.