The four of us stood together, silently taking in the remains of what was once a busy metropolis. To say it was a mess is an understatement. The city was in ruins. I was afraid a strong gust of wind might topple one of the huge structures down on top of us. It felt like a giant, fragile, city of cards.
“Let’s look around,” Siry said, a little less confidently than before.
We walked slowly through the rubble, our sandals crunching the debris. The area near the pier looked like it might have been open space at one time. Maybe it was a park or an area for ships to off-load cargo. Now it was a massive junkyard. Most of the rubble was just that-nondescript rubble. Every so often I’d see something that looked like what it had once been. I saw a suitcase, the skeleton of an umbrella, many bottles of different shapes and colors, even a few shoes. That was creepy. Empty shoes.
Twig took a deep sniff and said, “There’s nothing here that grows.”
“Really,” I agreed. “I think it’s been that way a long time.”
“How do you know that?” Siry asked.
“Because Twig’s right,” I answered. “There’s nothing organic here. We’re not seeing any life, but we’re not seeing any death, either.”
“What does that mean?” Loque asked.
“There’s no bones,” I answered glumly. “Everything organic has turned to dust. That doesn’t happen overnight.”
“What do you think happened?” Loque asked.
“Let’s try and find out.” I took the lead, making my way through a labyrinth of destruction. I scanned for the remains of an explosion or an earthquake or any other clue as to what might have happened. Nothing jumped out at me. It seemed like the only destructive force that had visited these buildings was time.
“We should go deeper,” I said. “Maybe into one of the buildings.”
“It all seems so fragile,” Loque said thoughtfully “Anybody want to turn back?” Siry asked. Nobody did. We walked on.
I lead the group toward the first line of tall buildings and the one street that looked fairly clear. Stepping past the first building was like walking into a canyon. The buildings on either side of us created giant walls that cut much of the light. It was a lot cooler in there because of that. We passed a few cars that were nothing more than skeletons of metal. The interiors had long since dissolved to dust.
Loque asked, “What should we be looking for?” He spoke softly, as if we were walking through a graveyard.
“Signs of life,” Siry answered.
We continued on, crossing a few streets, moving farther into the city. The ground level of the buildings looked like it once held shops. My curiosity said to go inside and check one out. My common sense told me it might be suicide. We passed block after desolate block with no clue as to what had happened. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The city was simply abandoned. I saw only one thing that didn’t quite fit. It was far ahead of us.
I couldn’t tell exactly how far, because there was a haze of dust in the air that made seeing long distances difficult. It looked like a black wall. Stranger still, the slope of the wall seemed to be at a forty-five degree angle to the street. All the buildings were more or less boxes with vertical or horizontal lines, making this black diagonal slash stand out. I didn’t understand why, but the sight of this black wall made me uneasy. I wanted to get there and find out what it was when Siry put on the brakes.
“Stop,” he ordered. “We’re getting too far away from the ship.”
“Just a little farther,” I suggested.
“No,” Siry said quickly. “There’s nothing here for us. We could search for hours and still find nothing.”
“What about your quest to discover the truth?” I asked. “We can’t turn back now.”
“We’re not turning back,” he bristled. “I’m thinking we came to the wrong place for the wrong reason. There’s nobody here. These buildings look ready to collapse. We don’t want our quest to begin and end here.”
Loque agreed. “The only reason we’re here is because it was the closest point on the map. Maybe we should sail up the coast.”
It was hard to argue with their logic, but I wanted to keep going. I kept staring over Siry’s shoulder at the distant black wall. What was it?
“I’m hungry,” Twig added. “We haven’t eaten since yesterday.”
“It’s true,” Loque added. “We need to find food and fresh water.”
“I have an idea,” Twig said with excitement. “Let’s sail back to Ibara, wait till dark, then send a small party to shore to steal supplies.”
Siry said, “And what if they start firing that weapon at us?”
“If they wanted to sink us, they would have yesterday,” Loque said. “Maybe Twig’s idea is a good one. I can swim to shore with a small group. Half of us can steal provisions while the others find a small boat and-“
“Wait,” I said abruptly. I had been half listening to their debate, but something Twig said finally sank in. “What did you say. Twig?”
She looked at me uncertainly. “I said maybe we should go home and steal some food.”
“No, I mean what did you say exactly?”
The three of them looked at me quizzically. They didn’t know where I was going with this. I wasn’t so sure either.
“I don’t understand,” Twig said.
“Where did you say we should sail to?”
“You mean Ibara?”
“Yes!” I exclaimed. “You said we should sail to Ibara.” “What’s the problem, Pendragon?” Siry asked. My pulse started to race. “Twig said we should sail back to Ibara. Why did she say that?”
“To get food,” Loque said impatiently.
“No! I mean why didn’t she say Rayne?”
The three again exchanged confused looks. Loque answered, “Because Ibara is the name of the island. What’s the problem?”
Now my mind was racing along with my pulse. I hoped there was an easy explanation for this.
“You call the island where Rayne is ‘Ibara’?” I asked.
“Yes!” Loque answered. “Ibara is the island, Rayne is our village. Didn’t you know that?”
Obviously not.
“Then what do you call everywhere else?”
Siry scoffed. Loque stared at me. Twig looked a little scared. To her this was crazy talk. I hoped she was right.
“What are you talking about, Pendragon?” Siry asked.
I felt as if I were about to hyperventilate. “This planet. This world. Whatever. The whole place, not just the island. Is there a name for it?”
Loque laughed, “Of course!”
“Is it Ibara?” I asked hopefully.
“Is this a game?” Loque replied. “Ibara is the name of our island.”
“Then what’s the name of this planet?” I screamed. Siry said, “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but-“
“Humor me!” I shouted. “What’s the name of this world? The whole world.”
Siry answered with one simple, shattering word. “Veelox.”
Nothing moved, though it sure seemed as if I’d been swept up into a tornado. It felt like the buildings around us were suddenly spinning. They weren’t of course. It was all in my head. That word hammered so hard, I nearly fell over. I could barely breathe.
“Veelox?” I managed to say in a small, pathetic voice. “Siry, the name of this territory is Veelox?”
Twig and Loque looked to each other, holding back nervous, confused giggles. As far as they were concerned, I was insane. At that moment I agreed with them. I felt insane. Siry frowned. I guess he didn’t like my reaction.
‘Are you all right?” he asked.
I couldn’t answer one way or the other. I guess that meant no.
“Rubity,” I stammered, thinking out loud. “It’s not Rubity. It’s Rubic City. This is Rubic City.” “Uh-oh,” Loque said. Yeah. Uh-oh. That’s one way of putting it. “What now?” Siry asked.
I lifted my eyes to Loque. He wasn’t giggling anymor
e. He looked dead serious. Any thought about crazy old Bobby Pendragon spinning out of control and ranting about the name of the planet was gone. He wasn’t even looking at me. He was looking past me to something that made him get real serious, real fast.
Holding back his emotion, he said, “We’re not alone.”
(CONTINUED)
IBARA
It was the first unique sound I’d heard since we’d landed at Rubity. Strike that. Rubic City. We were on Veelox. It was impossible. It was the truth. It made no sense. It didn’t matter. At least not just then. We weren’t alone. That mattered. The sound was a sharp swish, followed by another and another. I was still too far out of my mind to register what was happening. Reality charged back quickly. ‘Ahhhh!” screamed Twig.
The small girl was pulled to the ground and dragged across the debris-strewn street by a group of Flighters. We finally found them. Or maybe I should say they found us. They were on the attack. There were lots of them too. Way too many for us to battle.
“Help!” she screamed in terror.
The swish sounds were made by ropes. Lassos. The Flighters were throwing ropes to snare us. They reeled Twig in like a helpless fish. Loque dove for her, sprawling across her body and preventing her from being pulled any farther. I jumped to yank off the rope, but felt the quick tightening of a lasso that snapped around my neck so fast I didn’t have time to react. I was jerked forward and pulled to the ground. The rope tightened, choking me. All I could do was grab it and pull back. Hard. The Flighter attached to the other end must not have expected that, because I pulled him off his feet. Idiot. He should have let go. It gave me time to loosen the rope and slip it off.
The Flighters were grouped together, looking like a bunch of zombies, fresh from the grave, complete with rotted clothing. They had the same vacant, emotionless looks as the Flighters I had seen on Rayne. On Ibara. The island. Not the territory. I was on Veelox! They wound up their ropes, ready to try and snare us again. I was ready to charge them, but more kept showing up. They flooded from a building like rampaging rats after ripe garbage. We wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight.
Loque freed Twig. Siry knelt by me, bringing his blowgun up to his lips.
“Don’t bother,” I shouted. “Run.”
I didn’t have to tell him twice. He helped me to my feet and the four of us took off, back the way we had come. It was a mad sprint to get away from our attackers and back to the ship.
We didn’t get far. A handful of Flighters appeared ahead of us, climbing up and over a pile of rubble. We ran right into them. I pulled out the wooden blowgun and held it low, ready to whack the first Flighter who got within whacking range. I expected to get pounced on by a gang, but only one of them came at me. The guy wasn’t a fighter, but he was fearless. He charged with no regard for his own safety, swinging his arms wildly, hoping to land a lucky punch. I backed off, easily blocking everything he threw. He drove his head into my chest and pumped his legs, driving me backward like a tackling dummy.
I had no trouble pivoting and using his own energy to throw him over my hip. The Flighters were relentless, but they didn’t know how to fight. I looked quickly toward the others and saw both Siry and Loque fighting one Flighter each. That didn’t make sense. I saw at least ten of them jump off the pile of rubble. Why were they coming at us one at a time? I sprinted toward Siry and launched myself at his attacker, driving both my feet into his rib age. The Flighter grunted and dropped away.
“Twig!” Siry shouted with such fear it made my heart clutch.
The next few seconds were painful. The Flighters’ plan came clear. They weren’t as clueless as I’d thought. Siry and Loque and I were attacked by one each because the rest had jumped Twig. They were going to take us out one at a time. Poor Twig was the first target.
“Siry!” she shouted desperately. “Help!”
She was swarmed by several Flighters who dragged her back toward… somewhere.
I had to make a snap decision. It was one of the toughest things I’d ever done. Siry made a move to help her… and I stopped him.
“No!” I shouted. “You can’t help her.”
“Pendragon!” he protested desperately.
“Look!” I said, pointing beyond the group that was dragging poor Twig away. The mass of Flighters that had first attacked us was growing. There must have been fifty of them headed our way. If we went after Twig, it would be over. For all of us. Siry understood. It didn’t make it any less painful, but he understood. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look of horror on Twig’s face as she was dragged away from us. I could only hope she’d survive the ordeal and we’d get another chance to save her.
“We’ll help her, but not now,” I said to Siry.
The look on his face was gut-wrenching. This was way more than he bargained for when he set out on a grand adventure with his friends to explore Ibara.
No, to explore Veelox.
“C’mon!” I shouted to get him moving.
Siry reluctantly backed away. We both turned to run. Loque had shaken the Flighter who had attacked him and ran with us. We were down to three. Who would be the next target? Ahead of us to our right, more Flighters poured from another building, cutting off the street and our route back to the ship.
“This way!” Loque shouted, and turned left, headed toward one of the derelict buildings.
It was a dangerous move. There were three of us and dozens of them. If we were clever, and lucky, we might be able to lose them inside one of the empty buildings. If we weren’t lucky, the building would collapse on our heads. If we stayed in the street, they’d have us. Jumping into a building was the only move we had. Loque knew it. Siry and I weren’t far behind. We followed the blond thief through the first door we came to. Inside was a mess of crushed furniture and broken shelves. It might have been a store at one time. It might have been an office. It might have been a zoo for all I cared. All I wanted was to get through and shake the mass of Flighters. I quickly realized I was with the right guys. They may not have been warriors, but they knew how to dodge the authorities. They had plenty of practice running from the security force in Rayne. To them, running through the twisted labyrinth inside this building was no different than blasting through the dense tropical jungle near their home. I had trouble keeping up with them as they jumped over piles of junk while always looking ahead for the best route.
The Flighters had even more trouble keeping up. There were too many of them. Being only three was definitely an advantage. Loque led us through several rooms of debris. It was almost as if he knew where he was going. Finally he blasted through a doorway that led to a huge, empty atrium. After running through a maze of dark, junky rooms, it was a breathtaking surprise to suddenly land in such a huge space.
It was a giant, glass building. The ceiling and two of the walls were made of colorful stained glass. At one time it might have been some kind of cathedral. The spectacular mosaic pattern was a seascape, complete with schools of fish, coral, whales, and vibrant plant life. The colors were incredibly vivid, made more so because the sun shone through to make them come alive. The whole mosaic was amazingly intact, though there were hundreds of places where sections had fallen out to let unfiltered sun shine in, creating laserlike beams of white light that crisscrossed the entire space. The three of us stood beneath this spectacular glass dome, staring up in awe, trying to catch our breath. It was an awesome sight that I would have appreciated a whole lot more if we hadn’t been running for our lives.
“We’ve got to go back,” Siry said, gulping air. “They’ve got Twig.”
“And they’ll get us, too,” I said. “We’ll go back, but on our terms.”
“I shouldn’t have brought her,” Siry cried. “I shouldn’t have brought anyone!”
“It was our choice,” Loque said. “There were plenty of chances to back out.”
“Guys, not the time to second guess,” I cautioned. “You can beat yourselves up all you want later. Let’s shake those goons
first.”
Crash!
The sound came from the room we had just run through. The Flighters were smashing their way through. I did a quick scan of the immense atrium, looking for the best escape route.
“We won’t make it across this space in time,” I concluded. “I say we dig in somewhere and hope they miss us.”
There wasn’t time to debate. Loque took off again, running along the wall until he found another doorway. He jumped inside. We followed. It was a small room with no light and no exits. If the Flighters found us, we’d be trapped. But there was no turning back, because the Flighters had entered the cathedral.
Siry jumped behind the wreck of something that might have been a cabinet. Or a desk. Loque and I followed, trying to make ourselves invisible. I got down on my belly behind the ancient piece of furniture and found a small opening to peer through. I had a perfect view out the door. No sooner did I settle in, than I saw several Flighters running through the cathedral to the far side. It looked like our plan had worked. They thought we’d kept going. But there were a lot of them. They could have spread out to search the cathedral. We had to be absolutely sure before moving.
It was burning hot in there. Sweat poured down my face. I was about to reach up and wipe my nose, when a shadow crossed the doorway in front of us. I froze. A Flighter crept past silently, on alert. They were searching for us. I didn’t even want to breathe, for fear he’d hear me. I didn’t put my hand back down either. That’s how nervous I was about making the smallest sound. The Flighter barely glanced into the room and kept walking. I kept still. Good thing. Right behind him was another guy who poked his head around the corner and looked directly into the room. Could he see us? Did it matter?
The Pilgrims of Rayne tpa-8 Page 25