The Battle for WondLa

by Tony DiTerlizzi

  “I have heard enough! Guards, ready your weapons.” Two dozen royal guardsmen charged their boomrods and aimed them at Loroc.

  One pair of Loroc’s eyes began to glow, and he began to chant in a voice Eva did not recognize.

  “It is the queen child.

  The one who did not want her crown,

  But the one who inherited it nonetheless.

  She is but a child who is weary of ruling,

  Weary of trying, weary of the royal life.”

  “That was long ago. It will not work.” Ojo waved away Loroc’s words in a dismissive manner. “Surrender now, or I shall be forced to execute you, here and now.”

  The next pair of Loroc’s eyes began to glow. Once more he chanted, this time in a tone similar to Arius’s voice,

  “The queen shall not serve my demise,

  But her hive’s demise, I shall serve.”

  One of Loroc’s arms shot out and wrapped tight around Queen Ojo’s throat. She struggled but could not loosen the constriction. Another arm snaked through her robes as if searching for something.

  “Guards, drop your weapons or the next breath will be her last,” Loroc yelled. He plucked the pillar guard’s remote from Ojo’s robes. “Do it!”

  Queen Ojo gasped for air as Loroc lifted her up off the floor.

  The Mirthian representative rushed toward Loroc, shouting, “Stop! Not our queen!”

  Loroc lashed out and struck the Mirthian. The force of the blow sent him back into the wall, where he slid to the floor, unconscious. Several other leaders ran to his aid.

  Queen Ojo tried to speak but could not. She struggled against Loroc’s strong grasp.

  Rovender, Antiquus, and Eva inched toward the banquet hall doors with a small group of representatives. In the hallway beyond, Redimus recognized Eva and rushed toward the doorway. The pillar guards on either side of the door blocked his path. One of them swatted Redimus to the side. With claws extended the guards slammed the doors of the hall shut, trapping everyone within.

  “Don’t try to run,” Loroc said, brandishing the pillar guard remote. “You have yet to witness what will no doubt become a historical moment in Orbonian history.”

  Rovender led Eva through the crowd to the large urn in the back of the room. “Get behind here,” he whispered. “And stay hidden.”

  “But—”

  “Eva.” Rovender looked directly at her. “Whatever happens, do not come out. Promise me?”

  Eva nodded.

  “I’ll be close by. And I’ll try to think of some way to get us out of here.” Rovender took his post in front of the urn. Antiquus stayed next to him.

  The captain of the royal guard spoke. “If we surrender our weapons, you will not harm our queen?”

  “No harm to her, I promise. But hurry with your decision.” Loroc tightened his grip. “Your beloved queen is running out of time.”

  The captain threw his boomrod to the ground. His entire squad followed suit.

  “No!” Eva stifled her scream.

  “As I said, I won’t hurt her.” As quick as a flash Loroc grabbed all twenty-four charged boomrods with his many arms. “But I will eliminate you.” He fired the boomrods out in every direction. The squad of royal guardsmen fell to the ground. Some were blown across the hall. The crowd huddled to the far end of the room, near Eva’s hiding spot.

  An angry Dorcean tribe leader picked up an entire food station and hurled it at Loroc. Along with a band of other representatives, he rushed Loroc in an attempt to snatch a weapon. Loroc fired a boomrod directly at the Dorcean leader. The shot blasted the leader into the far wall and the band of attackers dispersed.

  The bloodied Dorcean leader pulled himself up. He climbed onto a table and shouted to the crowd, “There are more of uz than heem. We can take him down! Who iz with me?”

  Loroc fired another boomrod into the skylight, causing a large portion of it to collapse. The thick glass shattered on the floor just behind him. “Back down, Dorcean!” He held the muzzle of the boomrod to Ojo’s head.

  The representatives retreated to the back of the hall, far from Loroc.

  With his eyes fixed on the struggling queen, Loroc spoke. “I still have a meal to enjoy. My victory feast. Taxidermist, let’s start with my appetizer.”

  The runty creature cowered behind Zin’s cell and did not move.

  “Well?” Loroc aimed a boomrod at the taxidermist.

  “I–I . . . ,” the taxidermist stuttered.

  “Bring the remote here, and I shall do it myself,” Loroc hissed.

  Trembling, the taxidermist approached Loroc and held out the remote. Loroc seized him by the neck with one arm and plucked the remote out of his hand with another. He hurled the taxidermist across the hall. The runt landed in a heap next to the large urn that Eva was hiding behind. Huffing, the taxidermist struggled to roll over and get up.

  Eva and Rovender locked eyes. Unmoving, Rovender mouthed, “Don’t move.”

  Perched on his hoverdisc, Antiquus floated over to the taxidermist and helped him. “You should be ashamed of your actions. Zin was a fine curator for the museum.”

  The taxidermist squirmed away from Antiquus. “You don’t know anything, old Cærulean.” He sniffed the air and scuttled toward the urn.

  Eva held her breath.

  Rovender moved to intercept the taxidermist, but Antiquus reached him first. His voice was severe. “What I know is that you have succumbed to the wrong power. So you best huddle under his shadow, where you are safe . . . for now.”

  The taxidermist stopped and looked up to see the glaring faces of the other Cærulean leaders surrounding him. He quickly wriggled past them, back to his master.

  Eva exhaled a small sigh of relief.

  “That was too close,” Rovender whispered to her.

  “And now, Your Majesty . . .” Loroc’s booming voice called their attention once more. He aimed the taxidermist’s remote at the cell, and the transparent walls became gelatin-like. Loroc reached into the cell and pulled out Zin’s paralyzed body. “The feast begins.” He opened his mouth wide. There was a rending sound as ligaments in Loroc’s jaw stretched, bringing to mind the holograms Eva had seen of snakes preparing to eat a bird’s egg whole. Slowly and steadily he devoured Zin right in front of Queen Ojo.

  Eva buried her head in her hands to muffle her sobs. Over her own weeping, she could hear gasps of horror erupt from the crowd. Sickened, Eva peered one last time from behind the urn and watched Zin disappear down Loroc’s maw.

  Loroc’s mass trembled and enlarged as he absorbed his brother’s body. His stubby tubular arms stretched into tapering tentacles. A fourth pair of slit eyes appeared on his face. The eyes opened, and he spoke. His voice now resonated as a chorus of four. “I can see all pasts; I foretell all futures. I am strength, all-knowing, and all-powerful. I, the Prime Master, am complete at last!” He tossed Queen Ojo into Zin’s abandoned cell. Using the remote, he solidified the walls. Ojo pounded on the glass and yelled, but to no avail.

  Loroc’s giant form spun to face the gathered representatives. “The citizens of Orbona will soon have no need for you. But I still do.” He floated over and lifted up the fallen Mirthian leader. Once more Loroc opened his mouth wide and began to consume the unconscious leader.

  The crowd huddled together in the back of the hall, near the urn that Eva hid behind. One of the representatives shrieked and pointed to the Mirthian, who had regained consciousness just in time to disappear down Loroc’s gullet.

  Loroc’s body rippled from consuming his prey. “Once I ingest each and every one of you, I will contain all your collected knowledge and wisdom. We shall become one. I will be the perfect ruler for this world. Queen Ojo will become the key attraction of a new exhibit in my royal museum: Bygone Relics Who Lacked True Power. The future generations shall wonder how it is that any of you survived this long.” He was moving to snatch up his next victim when the taxidermist approached. The runty creature whispered and pointed at the ur
n in the back of the hall. Loroc smiled and floated to the center of the room.

  “This does not look good, Eva,” Rovender whispered to her. “I am going to create a diversion, and you try to make a run for it.”

  “That will not work.” Antiquus’s voice was calm. “Wait and see what transpires.”

  Eva’s heart was pounding as she scanned the room for a way out. The banquet hall doors were shut, with two pillar guards just on the other side, and the shattered hole in the skylight was too high up to reach.

  “Failed leaders, I am told that my brother may not be the only traitor among us.” Loroc glanced over in Eva’s direction. She shrank back behind the urn. “Today you will each leave this life so that you may join me as one glorious entity, to rule over all. In doing so the residents of your respective communities will go on living in bliss with the knowledge that I am watching over them.” Loroc’s face darkened. “However, should I learn you are harboring humans, then I shall eradicate your tribe, leaving nothing behind. I am told that one of you reeks of the human species, so I give you all this one opportunity to confess your crime. If you do so, I will consider sparing your village.”

  Not a word was spoken as Loroc drifted around the room inspecting each representative. As he made his way toward Eva, still in her hiding place, Rovender went to step out. But a wooden cane stopped him.

  “You watch what he does and then you find a way out of here, Son. Take good care of my granddaughter,” Antiquus whispered. Before Rovender could say a word, the Cærulean elder floated out to the center of the room.

  No! Eva wriggled out of her hiding spot and slipped next to Rovender. She waited for him to push her back behind the vase, but he made no move to do so. Even with her hood concealing her face, Eva could see Rovender breathing fast, just like she was, in fear and anticipation. She slid her small hand into his.

  “Well, I confess, I am a bit surprised by this.” Loroc hovered close to Antiquus.

  “You should not be,” Antiquus replied. “As you have expressed to everyone present, you are all-seeing. Your powers of cognizance should already know the answer to the question you have posed. You should have known that the one who interacted with the hu-mans was me . . . and it was you.”

  A hushed murmur moved among the huddled representatives.

  Loroc chuckled. “Your talk will get you only so far, old one. My experience with the humans gained me the knowledge to defeat them and save this city . . . and your peasant village.”

  “Perhaps that is part of the truth, Loroc. Or perhaps there is more. Maybe you should tell us your whole truth. What is it that you are concealing? What would possess you to destroy your family?”

  “Like you, they were weak where I am strong,” Loroc replied.

  “If your own family is of no value to you, why should we believe that the citizens of Orbona will be? Can you tell us that?”

  “I have told you enough! Now you tell me where the humans are hiding. Tell me willingly, or I will extract it from you.” His tentacles slithered around Antiquus, curling over his hoverdisc.

  “If that is what you must do. Regardless, I shall walk on through the memories of those still with us long after you consume me.”

  “You are not worthy of my consuming. The only one who shall be remembered here is Loroc, the Prime Master.” He wrapped his tentacles more tightly around Antiquus, lifting him from his seat.

  “NO!” Rovender cried. But it was too late.

  The tentacles coiled over Antiquus’s arms and into his mouth, constricting him. A pair of Loroc’s eyes began to glow, and he recited in Darius’s voice:

  “Tradition is upheld in our forest home.

  My son lost, he left, he returned

  With a human girl, a child of his own.

  She came to stay, they came to speak

  In Faunas.”

  “Eva Nine and the humans are there,” Loroc hissed. He hurled Antiquus down to the tiled floor. The elder’s lifeless body lay unmoving. “Fetch my Omnipod, runt,” Loroc said to the taxidermist. “Today we obliterate Faunas from all beamguides.”

  “No. Don’t do this,” Rovender pleaded, and rushed to his father’s side.

  “Back down, Cærulean, or you’ll be next!” Loroc barked.

  Rovender moved to stop him, but Eva stepped out into the open. Her hood was still pulled over her head, concealing her identity.

  “What’s this? We have another confession? Good,” said Loroc. “You all see that I am not one to issue false threats.” He pointed at Eva. “What village are you from? Show yourself.”

  All the representatives turned to look at Eva. Queen Ojo watched from her cell.

  “Don’t do this,” Rovender said.

  “I am speaking to you.” Loroc was already losing his patience. “Answer, or I will smite your village.”

  “You already have.” Eva pulled her hood down. Her long white hair spilled out over her shoulders. With her ears now uncovered, she heard a distinct whine from outside.

  The gathering cried out and withdrew from Eva as she walked toward Loroc. His many eyes blinked in surprise for a second. Then a fire ignited within them. “Eva Nine. Today’s victory just became all the more grand. I no longer have to hunt you down and exterminate you.”

  “You may not have to,” Eva glanced up. “But then again, the day is not over yet.”

  The whining grew louder as Redimus zoomed in on his glider. He rocketed through the hole in the skylight into the banquet hall. He swooped down toward Eva. Rovender seized Eva by the waist and hoisted her onto the glider. “Go! Get her out of here!” he shouted to Redimus. The glider shot up and circled out of Loroc’s reach.

  “Kill them!” Loroc aimed the pillar guard remote at them. The guards burst through the doors and swiped at the glider. Redimus dodged their blows with ease and headed back toward the hole in the skylight.

  “No,” Eva shouted. “We have to get Rovender!”

  “We cannot,” Redimus cried over his shoulder. “It iz too dangerouz.”

  “It isn’t! Give me the boomrod! I can cover us,” Eva cried.

  “I am zorry, Eva Nine.” Redimus flew at full speed toward the hole. “I promized him I would protect you, no matter what.”

  “NO!” Eva looked back down to the crowd below. She caught a glimpse of Rovender before the glider escaped. He was smiling and mouthing the word . . .

  “Good-bye.”

  CHAPTER 31: CHORUS

  I hate you! I HATE YOU!” Eva punched Redimus’s hairy back as they soared over the desolation of Solas. “How could you leave them all behind to die?”

  “I have fulfilled my promize.” He kept a steady course south and west along the shore of Lake Concors, toward Lacus. Behind them a thunderous sound reverberated over the city.

  Eva looked over her shoulder back toward Solas. On the horizon the sky was filled with warships heading in their direction.

  “He really wantz you dead. Hold on tight,” Redimus said.

  Eva felt her stomach plunge as the glider dropped down in altitude, close to the shoreline. The engine screamed as it accelerated at top speed, zooming toward Lacus.

  “These aren’t for us. They’re heading to Faunas!” Eva yelled over the sound of the warship’s engines. “We have to do something.” She suddenly remembered her plan and activated the Omnipod. “Hailey! Hailey, it’s me, Eva.”

  Hailey’s head appeared over the Omnipod’s central eye. “Hey, how did the talk go with—”

  “Never mind! Please get to Faunas as fast as you can. Loroc has ordered an attack because he thinks the humans are there. Please hurry!”

  “We’re—” Hailey started, but Eva never heard the rest. The spray of SHOCdarts that erupted from the warship peppered the wings of the glider, sending it spiraling out of control. Eva was thrown from her seat and disappeared with a splash under the gray waves of Lake Concors.

  Eva Nine was dying. The tiny lights of Cadmus Pryde’s Omnipod, still strapped around her wrist, bli
nked in time with the beat of her heart. She lay on the sandy shore as waves lapped at her feet. Slowly she lifted her head and opened her glassy eyes. Round stones, polished from eons of tumbling in the surf, covered the shore. Eva’s eyes focused on a nearby stone. Its smooth texture and swirl of earthen colors reminded her of the model planets she had seen on the orrery in Ojo’s bedchamber. So many little worlds within one world. She sensed a familiar presence and then felt a gentle nudge. Eva rolled over.

  I protect. You.

  “Otto.” Tears streamed out of Eva’s eyes. “What are you doing here?”

  I follow. You. I protect. You.

  “I don’t know if anyone can protect me,” Eva said.

  Do not. Hurt.

  From behind Otto several more water bears joined him. Eva recognized one of them as the grizzled leader of the herd. Above, the squadron of warships rumbled west across the sky.

  “It’s over, Otto.” Eva sat up. “I couldn’t save Zin. He couldn’t stop Loroc. I . . . failed.” A shivery chill overtook Eva. It was as if her body could no longer hold warmth within it.

  You. One of us. Herd. Otto nudged Eva with his large head.

  “Thank you.” Eva stood on uneasy legs. “But you must go away from me. Anybody who gets too close to me dies.”

  You. Are. Forest.

  “I’m not the forest. I drank the water, and I can speak to you all, but I’m not one of you. I’m . . . just a girl. A girl who wanted a home and a family.” Her mind tried to block out the image of Rovender. “This battle is not the forest’s to fight. You must go and hide. Maybe Antiquus was right after all.” The thought of Rovender’s departed father caused Eva’s body to shake uncontrollably.

  You must. Listen. You must. Sing.

  “No. I have to save Rovee.” Eva stumbled and fell back onto the sand. “But I don’t know how.” She held in the sobs that tried to overtake her.

  Otto gently lifted Eva up with his beak and sat her upright on the shore. He then raised his head and called out. One by one the other water bears did the same. Soon the entire herd was singing. In the forest Eva could hear other water bears joining in.