I wanted to shout “Woo hoo!” but decided I should be cool. Like it or not, I was in charge and I wanted to show Spader I had total confidence, even though I didn’t. So without a word, I began to climb. The cutouts led up into the dark crevice. In seconds, I was totally surrounded by rock. I knew this had to be the way out, so I didn’t panic. After climbing for another few seconds, I hit a dead end — with my head. Ouch. That hurt. My first thought was that we were trapped, but then I realized my head didn’t hurt as much as it should if I had just bashed it into hard rock. I carefully reached up and found that I was right. The ceiling wasn’t rock, it was wood. A quick push up revealed that it was a trapdoor. We were out!
I scrambled up and out, followed right behind by Spader. Once he was out, I threw the trapdoor shut and saw that carved on the top of it was the star that showed this was a gate.
So far, so familiar.
We found ourselves in what looked to be a storage room. The walls were made of the same sandy stone as below, but there were large wooden storage bins that were filled with what looked like metal machine parts. The floor was covered with sand, which made me realize the trapdoor was normally buried. So I quickly covered it over with a few inches of sand.
Spader watched me but didn’t say anything. I’m sure he was trying to process all this new information. His questions would come later.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s find Loor.”
A wooden door led out of this storage room and as soon as I reached to open it, it hit me that I had no clue what to expect on Zadaa. All I knew was that Loor was a warrior. Obviously that meant that Zadaa wasn’t exactly a futuristic society. I could only hope that it wasn’t like the Wild West and that we wouldn’t have to fight for our lives every step of the way. That would suck.
As soon as we opened the door we heard a loud, steady sound. It was a constant, unwavering roar.
“It’s water,” Spader said.
That’s exactly what it sounded like. Rushing water. But the sound was huge, so if it were rushing water, then there was a lot of it. We left the storage room and made our way through a labyrinth of tunnels cut into the rock. It reminded me of the mines of Denduron, but these passageways were more like corridors than wide mine shafts. Every few feet was another wooden door. We didn’t bother to look inside any of them. This wasn’t about exploration, this was about getting out and finding Loor.
The farther along the rocky corridor we walked, the louder the roaring water became. Finally we reached the mouth of the tunnel and stepped out into an awesome scene. We found ourselves on the bank of an underground river. It was about twenty yards across and moving fast. The cavern we were in was huge, with a high ceiling. To our left, about fifty yards downstream, the river split into three smaller rivers. Each new river disappeared into its own separate tunnel.
Upriver to our right was a waterfall. The water shot into the fast-moving river from a tunnel in the rock face about four stories above us. Mental note to self: Do not fall into this river. Swimming would be impossible because the water was moving so fast. There was no telling where the split rivers led.
“What are you doing here?” came a stern voice.
We both spun around to see a man wearing a similar white robe to the ones we wore. He was a small guy who wore a round gray hat that looked like a baseball cap without the brim. It looked hard, like it was for protection. In his arms were a bunch of rolled-up papers that could have been plans. He had come from the same tunnel we had, which meant he must have been behind one of the doors we passed. He was light skinned, which surprised me because both Loor and her mother, Osa, were very dark.
“I’ve never seen you two here,” he said suspiciously. “What do you want?”
He seemed to be in a hurry and was all sorts of agitated as if our surprise appearance had thrown off his schedule. This was going to be tricky. I had no idea what kind of explanation to give the guy except to tell him the truth — sort of.
“We, uh, we’re looking for a friend,” I said. “Her name is Loor.”
The guy’s eyes widened further. Uh-oh. I must have said the wrong thing.
“Loor?” he said in surprise. “That is a Batu name. Why would you be looking for a Batu down here?”
Good question. Too bad I didn’t have a good answer. Forget the truth. It was time to start lying.
“She, uh, she told me she might be coming down here,” I said.
“Ridiculous!” the guy snapped. “No Batu would miss that barbaric tournament of theirs. If she told you she was coming here, she was lying. But they are all liars, no?”
With that the man hurried off, clutching his rolls of paper. Spader touched me on the shoulder and I saw that he had a look of total confusion on his face. Welcome to the club.
“What did he say?” he asked.
“You heard him,” I answered. “Loor isn’t down here.”
“But how did you understand him? He was talking all gibberish.”
At first I didn’t know what Spader meant, but then it hit me: He was new to the Traveler game. He hadn’t gotten to the point where he could understand all languages, yet.
“Long story,” I said, and ran after the man with the scrolls. Spader followed dutifully. I caught up to the guy and walked alongside him.
“I’m embarrassed to say this, but my friend and I are lost. You know, all these tunnels and whatnot. Could you show us the way to the surface?”
The man stared at me suspiciously. This was a critical moment. If he started questioning me on who we were, we’d be sunk.
“You work in the manufacturing sector, don’t you?” he asked.
“Uhhh, yes! Manufacturing. That’s where we work.”
“Let me give you a piece of advice,” he said. “Do not make friends with a Batu. They cannot be trusted.”
“Yes, good advice,” I shot back. I figured I’d better agree with whatever this guy said if we wanted to get his help. “When I see Loor I’m going to just… call off our friendship.
No more lies! But I have to find her first, so how do we get out of here?”
“Follow me,” he said, and walked off quickly.
Yes! We were on our way out. He led us along the river-bank and right up to the waterfall. As we got closer I saw that it was possible to walk behind the falling water. We climbed a few stone steps and passed right behind the wall of water. Very cool. We then saw that cut into the stone wall behind the falling water, was a tunnel. The man led us inside and after a few steps we came upon a room that had the coolest, strangest gizmo I think I had ever seen.
The best thing I can liken it to is one of those big pipe organs you see in church, but it was ten times the size. One whole wall was covered with pipes of every different size, ranging from about an inch in diameter to as wide as about ten inches. They ran from the ground, all the way up to the stone ceiling.
The guy put his rolls of paper down and stepped up onto a stone platform that faced a vast array of levers, switches, valves, and knobs. There must have been a couple hundred of these controls. I had no clue how he could tell one from another because none seemed to be marked. He walked back and forth on the platform, expertly flipping switches, tightening valves and loosening others. At one point he picked up one of the scrolls, unrolled it to check something, then tossed it down again and went right for a few more valves and opened them up. Whatever he was doing, it seemed very important. At least to him anyway.
Spader gave me a questioning look. I could only shrug. I had no idea what the guy was doing. I didn’t want to ask him either or it would give away the fact that we didn’t belong here.
“Uhhh,” I interrupted. “Excuse me but, you were going to show us the way out?”
The guy kept working on his levers, but looked back over his shoulder at us. I could tell we were bothering him, but too bad.
“That way,” he said, nodding toward an opening cut into the rock on the far side of the room. “Keep making rights, and remember what I said.
Do not trust the Batu. Stay with the Rokador.”
Ohhh-kay, whateverthatmeant. I didn’t ask. “Thank you!” I said, and motioned for Spader to follow me. The man went right back to his work and we got the heck out of there.
We walked quickly through the doorway and, as instructed, kept making rights until we found a spiraling ramp that led up. We climbed and every so often we’d reach a new level and saw corridors that led off to places unknown. But, we didn’t need to explore any more of this underground world. We needed to climb out.
After climbing for several minutes we finally leveled off and found ourselves in a room that was full of light. The walls were made of brown stone, but they were smooth, not like the rock below. It was clear that we were on the surface and the room we were in was man-made, not man-dug. A quick look around showed a doorway that led to the light. It was time to take our first look at Zadaa. I had no idea what to expect, but I was getting anxious to see the territory where Loor came from. I led Spader across the room, stepped out into the warm sun, and stopped short because the sight in front of us was absolutely breathtaking.
It was a sprawling city made entirely out of sand-colored stone. Imagine ancient Egypt before wind and time destroyed it and you’d have Zadaa. We stood on a rise that gave us a pretty great overview. There were soaring temples with sculpted figures that towered over the streets below. There were pyramids and tiered buildings with lush hanging plants draped over balconies. In the distance, beyond the boundaries of the city, there was nothing but desert. But the city within was alive with vegetation. It was like a vast oasis in a sea of sand. Running parallel to many of the streets were stone troughs that carried fresh water throughout the city. There were also ornate fountains everywhere. After having seen the river below, I knew what the source was. I wondered if the system of valves and switches that the guy down below was so busily working on had something to do with controlling the water flow.
This was a beautiful city, and I could easily imagine Loor walking the streets. Yes, this was Loor’s home. It made absolute sense to me.
“Where is the ocean?” asked Spader.
His voice was shaky. After all of the bizarro experiences I had put him through, the sight of this city was the first thing that really rattled him.
“Where is the ocean?” he asked again, more nervously.
It suddenly made sense to me. Cloral was a hundred percent water. There was no dry land. Seeing a place that was just the opposite must have been pretty freaky.
“It’s okay,” I said, trying to calm him. “There is no ocean here. At least not one that I can see. These people live on dry land.”
“That’s impossible! How can you live on dry land? There isn’t enough water for power or food!”
Okay, how weird was that? But I guess if you live in a place where everything comes from the ocean, having no ocean would be pretty scary.
“It’s cool, I swear,” I said. “It’s just a different way of living. You’ll see.”
Spader didn’t look so sure, but I wasn’t worried about him. He’d get it soon enough. It was then that I realized something strange. I glanced back out on the city and realized that there was something very important missing. There were no people! This was a huge city, yet the streets were empty.
“Let’s take a look around,” I said, and started to walk. Spader didn’t follow me this time. He was rooted to his spot. I had to go back to him and say, “C’mon! We have to find Loor.”
Reluctantly he followed. We walked along one of the streets that was paved with stone. Towering statues loomed over us as we made our way through this strange and wonderful place.
“I’m having trouble walking,” Spader said.
I didn’t get what he meant until I saw that he looked kind of unsteady. He seemed almost dizzy and had trouble keeping his balance. I realized that he was going through the reverse process of getting used to being on a boat. My father called it “getting your sea legs.” Spader had lived his entire life floating. This was the first time he was walking on solid ground and it was a strange sensation. Spader was trying to get his “land legs.”
I tried not to laugh and said, “You’ll get used to it pretty quick. But if you’re going to barf, let me know.” I didn’t know how far this landsickness might go.
We continued on a little more slowly and started to see some people, but not as many as you’d think. The people up here on the surface had much darker skin than the guy we saw below. These people looked more like Loor and Osa. Their skin was dark, and they wore multicolored robes that were pretty spectacular.
“I wonder where everybody is?” I said. “Maybe it’s some kind of holiday and — ” That’s when it hit me. The guy in the cavern below had said that the Batu would all be at the tournament! Maybe that was why the streets were deserted. Maybe everybody was at this tournament.
The very next person we saw, I stopped and asked, “Excuse me, which way to the tournament?”
It was a woman. She was tall and stern looking. She stared at me as if not sure why I would be asking such a simple question.
“Not many Rokador are interested in the tournament,” she said coldly. “They do not have the stomach.”
Rokador. That’s what the guy down below had said. Maybe the guys who lived below were called Rokador and the people on the surface were Batu. We must look like Rokador. I wasn’t sure if it was because of our white gowns, or the fact that we were pretty pale compared to the people on the surface.
“I think we can handle it,” I said.
The woman chuckled, but I’m not sure if she was laughing with us or at us. She directed us to stay on this street and it would take us right to the tournament. Excellent. We were happening. Spader and I picked up the pace. I felt certain this would bring us to Loor.
As we continued walking Spader got stronger. He was adapting pretty quickly, so I figured it was a good time to start getting him up to speed on things. I began by telling him about the territories and about how they were all connected by flumes. I explained how Uncle Press and I came from a territory called Second Earth and that we were both Travelers who journeyed to the territories to help out in times of trouble. I explained how Loor was a Traveler as well, which is why I wanted her help. I didn’t go into much more detail. It was better for him to get his mind around things a little at a time. For the first time I understood how Uncle Press felt when he explained things to me and I had so many questions. It really was easier to learn things as you went along.
Besides, the cheering up ahead told me that we had arrived at the tournament. Spader and I came to a building that looked like a coliseum. It wasn’t as big though. I guess it was closer to a high school stadium than a pro ballpark. It didn’t look as if we needed tickets either, because we walked right in.
The place was indeed a small stadium. As it turned out, my theory about why the streets were empty was correct. There were a couple of thousand people filling the stands. A quick look around told me that most of the spectators were Batu. They were dark skinned and wearing those colorful robes. But there were also a number of Rokador scattered throughout the crowd. They really stood out with their white robes and lighter skin.
There was a dirt playing field, and for an instant my thoughts went back to the Bedoowan stadium on Denduron and the gruesome quig battles where innocent miners were fed to beasts. I really hoped that they weren’t doing anything nasty like that here.
Spader and I walked up to the railing and looked onto the field in time to see two teams marching in from opposite sides of the arena. They were all Batu — not a Rokador among them. They looked like warriors. Each and every one of these players was lean and buff. They weren’t just men, either. It was half and half, men and women. They all wore these short leather tunics that showed a lot of skin, which is how I could tell they were all cut like athletes. They also wore lightweight protection on sensitive areas like elbows, knees, and the ever important groin. There were ten warriors to a side, and they
marched in single file, carrying leather helmets under one arm while holding thin wooden clubs in the other.
“What’s the do here?” asked Spader.
“I’m guessing there’s going to be some kind of contest,” I answered. “My friend Loor is — ” That’s when I saw her. The last warrior to march in was Loor. Though she was younger than the rest, she looked every bit as formidable.
“That’s her,” I said to Spader while pointing to Loor.
“That’s your friend?” Spader asked with a mixture of surprise and awe. “She’s… she’s… amazing.”
Spader stood staring at Loor, unable to take his eyes off her. I finally had to give him a shoveto bring him back to reality.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said. “She’s not your type.”
“What type is she?” Spader asked.
“The type who has no interest in anything but kicking ass. If you think I’m kidding, watch.”
The warrior teams stood on opposite sides of the arena and began the final act of suiting up. Here was the odd part. Each of them had these things that looked like wooden stakes that stuck out to the sides from their elbows and their knees. The stakes were about six inches long. One team had red stakes, the other had green. When they put their helmets on I saw that they also had a wooden stake that stuck straight up like those World War I German helmets. In all, each warrior had five wooden stakes sticking out of them. I had no clue what those things were for but I have to tell you, they looked pretty goofy.
Each team stood in a line, shoulder to shoulder, facing their opponents across the arena. A Batu guy wearing a bright yellow robe walked to the center, where he planted a stick in the ground. On the end of the stick he hung what looked like a necklace made of large, golden teeth. He then silently walked back and entered the grandstand. From the safety of the stands, he turned back to the playing field, raised a golden horn to his lips, and let out one short note.
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