The Soldiers of Halla tpa-10

by D. J. MacHale

  “The exiles?” Kasha asked.

  Courtney nodded. “Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. I sat there for a few seconds, dumbfounded. I didn’t know what to do. I truly thought I was going to lose my mind. That’s when the guy in the flannel shirt moved. I was so surprised that I yelped. But I saw him reach for his eyes and rub them. That little, natural movement was enough to calm me down. This guy was coming around the exact same way I had. Then the twins moved. All around me I saw the beginnings of this giant mass of humanity come to life like some giant creature. I hadn’t yet heard about what happened at Yankee Stadium, so the idea of this many people suddenly dropping in on Eelong still didn’t make sense, but I was glad to know I wasn’t in corpseworld.”

  “It must have been an incredible relief,” Kasha said.

  Courtney’s expression turned dark. “It didn’t last. I was lying near one edge of the mass of people. I’d guess I was about fifty people away from the outer edge. Being there saved my life.”

  The klees and I exchanged nervous looks.

  “How?” Boon asked, hanging on her every word.

  “We were being stalked. I think when the people started to move, it was like a cue. As soon as the mass of humanity began to stir, the attack began.”

  “Klees?” I asked.

  “Tangs. They must have been stalking through the jungle, growing closer. When they saw that their prey was coming alive-”

  Courtney closed her eyes. The memory was a bad one.

  “The screams came first. I jumped up and saw three tangs pounce on the people who were closest to the edge of the clearing. Not far from me. If I had been lying a little bit closer to the edge…” She didn’t finish that sentence. “Those poor people didn’t have a chance. It was brutal. More tangs jumped from cover and picked off the first people they came to. Those closest could see what was going on and panicked. The fear spread like a wave. The screaming was unbearable. I didn’t know which screams came from fear, and which came from the people being mauled by those monsters.” I couldn’t imagine the horror.

  “Some people jumped in and tried to pull the tangs off. They paid for it. The beasts were on a bloody rampage. With all the people jostling me, I could only make out fleeting images. Maybe that was a good thing. I kept seeing talons flashing and the horror and pain on the faces of the poor people. I could even smell the tangs. And the blood. It was a frenzy feed. I kept getting knocked around by people who were desperate to escape. At first I went with the crowd, but I was afraid I’d get crushed. I looked around for any other way to go. That’s when I saw the waterfalls and realized that we were in the valley that led into Black Water. As soon as I saw those falls, I knew what I had to do. I had to get into Black Water and find Gunny and Spader. I pushed my way through the crowd, going against the flow. It wasn’t easy, but eventually I broke out of the stampede. Now it was just me and the group of tangs about twenty yards away who were bent down over their prey.” She closed her eyes and added, “Feeding.”

  I tried not to imagine it.

  “I ran for the falls and didn’t look back. I couldn’t. I don’t know how many people were killed that day. When I talked to people about it later, they told me the tangs simply disappeared into the jungle… once they had gotten their fill.” I winced.

  “I kept running, heading for the waterfall. I hit the runoff and splashed through, not daring to stop. When I got into the tunnel, I kept going, sprinting the whole way. I didn’t stop to rest until I reached the far side. Looking down the slope, I saw that the village in Black Water was just as I remembered it. It wasn’t the village you see here today. It was the same village that we saved from the klee attack five years ago.”

  “Five years,” I echoed. “Black Water has grown this much in five years?”

  “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” she said. “I found Aron, the gar leader, and begged him to take me to Gunny and Spader. But he said they had disappeared. Nobody knew where they had gone.”

  “I’m sure they went to Solara when the flumes exploded, just as I did,” I offered.

  “I told Aron about the people outside. I said they were gars. What else was I supposed to say? And they were, sort of. Aron immediately gathered a team of gars with weapons and set out to bring the people back.”

  “That wasn’t a small job,” I said.

  Courtney snickered. “Tell me about it. Do you know how hard it is to gather seventy thousand people? Especially people who are confused and scared that they might be eaten by hungry dinosaurs?”

  “Can’t say that I do,” I answered.

  “I’m not going to bore you with all the details of what followed, because you see the results all around you. It was awkward and confusing and impossible, but the gars accepted the newcomers and gave them a home. In return, the Yanks helped Black Water to grow and prosper. It’s been a perfect partnership.”

  “What about language?” I asked. “How did the gars understand the Yanks?”

  “Good question. It was never an issue,” Courtney answered. “Like when Mark and I first came here. For whatever strange reason, the two groups could understand each other from the get-go. As far as I can tell, everybody’s speaking English, but that makes no sense.”

  “It must have to do with the boundaries between territories breaking down. It’s like Veego and LaBerge. They’re from Veelox, yet they understood everyone on Quillan. And vice versa. Something must happen to people when they go through the flume. It’s like they become part of the combined Halla. Or something like that. I don’t know.”

  “It doesn’t seem right, but it is kind of convenient,” Courtney said sheepishly.

  “A fringe benefit of letting Ravinia run the universe. Kind of a big price to pay for not having to learn a new language.”

  “Ravinia. Yeah. By the time I got here those guys had already gotten a toehold on the territory. I guess Nevva couldn’t stop that. Or didn’t want to. I found out that whatever cooperation had existed between the klees and the gars was gone.”

  “You know the klees finally repealed Edict Forty-six?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Great, huh? We’re officially food. But the gars saw it coming. That’s why they developed weapons and worked to create defenses around Black Water. The Yanks had a lot to do with that.”

  “They accepted and understood the fact that they were on a different territory?” I asked.

  “They didn’t have a choice” was Courtney’s answer. “And it didn’t happen overnight. I was the one person who knew it all, so I kind of became the ambassador between the gars and the Yanks. They’re my people, after all. I gotta tell you, I’m proud of them. They became teachers and mentors to the gars. Now there are times when I’m talking to somebody that I don’t think of them as being a gar or a Yank. They’re just… a person. Maybe that’s what Nevva hoped would happen.”

  “It makes sense. If Nevva dropped seventy thousand people anywhere else in Halla, they would have been crushed by the Ravinians along with whatever culture they found themselves in. But here on Eelong, the gars were considered a lower form of life. They lived in isolation, protected by the mountains. The Ravinians first had to weed through the klees to determine who was worthy of joining them. They didn’t bother much with the gars in Black Water.”

  “Until now,” Kasha said softly.

  “Yeah, until now,” I repeated.

  Kasha asked, “Do you really think they will be able to repel a klee attack?”

  Courtney smiled. “No guarantees, but I can tell you, they’ve been training. Lots of the Yanks were former military on Second Earth. We’re organized, and we’re smart. I think the klees are going to be in for a surprise if they attack.”

  “When they attack,” I corrected.

  With that grim reality put out there, we went back to eating. I wasn’t hungry, but we needed fuel. As we silently devoured the food Courtney had prepared, I thought to the challenges ahead. Were the gars and exiles of Black Water capable of defending themselve
s against the klee army? Courtney seemed confident, but I wasn’t so sure. Worse than that, even if they somehow managed to repel the klees, would they be able to do the same against Saint Dane’s army of dados? The future was looking dark, which didn’t do much for my appetite.

  “They won’t attack at night,” Courtney announced. “We should rest.”

  “What if you’re wrong?” Boon asked.

  “We’ll know long before they get close to the valley” was Courtney’s answer. “We have eyes everywhere. Get some sleep. Before the sunbelt rises, I’ll get us all up, and I’ll show you why I think the klees are in trouble.”

  I didn’t doubt her.

  Courtney told us to make ourselves at home. She left to meet with the gar defenders to tell them of the possibility that the oncoming army might be partly mechanical. She promised to be back shortly.

  Kasha and Boon made themselves comfortable in the outer room next to the fireplace. There was a large chair in Courtney’s bedroom that I claimed. Soon after I settled in, Courtney returned and crawled into her own bed.

  “How did it go?” I asked.

  “It took a while to convince them that the klees might be mechanical, but they were willing to listen. If our radio cannons work on the dados, it’ll give us one more little advantage. Obviously, we need all we can get.”

  I didn’t argue.

  Before long I heard the steady breathing of Kasha and Boon as they slept. It was almost like purring. Or maybe it was exactly like purring. They were out and I was glad. The next day was going to be a tough one for them. If all went the way we expected, they would witness their own people-klees-going to war. Though I suspected that the majority of the advancing army was made up of dado klees, I had to believe that there were also plenty of living klees on the way. Somebody had to tell the dados what to do. I knew which side Kasha was on, but it would be tough for her to see the klees going to battle. I trusted Boon as well, but it was going to be hard for him, too. I made my mind up that I would ask Boon to stay away. It would be unfair to ask him to fight his own kind, no matter how right or important it was.

  I was so incredibly proud of Courtney. From all that I heard, she was the one who held the exiles together and helped create a community with the gars. When she first became my acolyte so long ago, I knew that I could rely on her. I had no idea that she would be pushed to such extremes, but wasn’t surprised that she had risen to every challenge. As did Mark. I loved those guys.

  “Bobby?” Courtney called from her bed. “You awake?”

  “What do you think?” I replied.

  She snickered. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “What do you think is the way it was meant to be?” “That’s, like, a huge question,” I answered. “Where do I begin to answer that?” “Begin with us.”

  I froze. I wasn’t sure what she meant. “Do you remember the night you first left home?” she asked.

  “How could I forget?”

  “Do you remember what I said to you when I came to your house that night?”

  I debated about being cool, or telling the truth. I chose the truth.

  “You said that you had this feeling about me, and that if you didn’t tell me that night, you were afraid that you’d never get the chance again. Then you kissed me.”

  “I guess that would be a yes. You remember.”

  “Every second of it.”

  “So do you ever wonder what would have happened if not for the whole Traveler thing?” “You mean that night?”

  “No,” she laughed. “I mean with us. If we’d had the chance to live our lives out the way they were supposed to be lived.”

  “Who says what happened isn’t the way it was supposed to be?” I said, ducking the question. “I do,” Courtney said flatly. That shut me up.

  She continued, “Do you think we would have gotten together and, like, had a life?”

  “Courtney,” I said, “believe it or not, I’ve wondered that same thing more times than I can count.”

  “And what did you come up with?” she asked.

  “You mean what did I think would happen, or what do I wish would have happened?”

  Courtney hesitated a moment, debating about the answer.

  “What do you wish?” she finally asked.

  This was it. The big answer.

  “I wish we could have had the chance to find out.” “Yeah, me too.”

  I don’t know why I did what I did, but it would have been wrong not to. I got out of the chair and lay down on the bed next to Courtney. I got down on my side behind her and put my arm around her. She hugged my arm around her waist. It wasn’t uncomfortable. Or awkward. It was just… right. I could smell her hair. Whatever she used to wash it on that primitive territory made it smell like flowers from home. Lying there with her made me feel vulnerable, because I was letting my guard down. Not my physical guard, my emotional guard. I had become a badass. I was a warrior. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have survived. Holding Courtney like that was like admitting I needed the touch of another human. I’d put any thoughts of companionship out of my head, because I knew it wasn’t possible. I had once opened myself up to Loor, and she pointed out that letting down our guard and allowing ourselves normal emotions would be dangerous. She was right. But at that moment, lying with Courtney, I didn’t care.

  “I don’t regret anything that happened, Bobby,” she whispered. “If I had to do it over again, I would.”

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” I said. “But I think I would too. Except that I wouldn’t involve you and Mark. It’s the only regret I have.”

  “And that would have been a mistake, because without us you wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

  I laughed. “You’re right.”

  “Just promise me one thing,” she said.

  “What?”

  “When this is over, remember me.”

  It seemed like such a simple request. A dumb one, even. How could I ever forget the glorious Courtney Chetwynde? I was about to say something to that effect, but stopped. For a brief moment I had forgotten the truth. I forgot that I wasn’t really Bobby Pendragon from Second Earth. I was a spirit from a place called Solara. When this was over, no matter how it came out, where would I end up? What kind of person

  … what kind of being would I be? I suppose it was a very real possibility that when it was over, I wouldn’t remember Courtney. What she was asking for was a promise I couldn’t make. So I did the only thing that made sense. I lied.

  “Of course I promise,” I said. “What a dumb thing to ask.”

  I hugged her tighter and kissed her on the back of the head.

  “I knew you would,” she said. “I just wanted to hear it.”

  I stopped talking. I wanted to experience the simple joy of holding Courtney Chetwynde without the added baggage of worrying about the future. We fell asleep that way, as close to each other as possible, in every sense of the word.

  I can’t say how long we rested, but the next thing I knew, I was dreaming about being on board a submarine. Not a submarine from Cloral, either. This was right out of some old World War II movie, complete with sailors. We were diving. I knew that because the steady whoop sound of the dive horn was sounding. I’d never actually been aboard that kind of submarine, but I’d seen plenty of movies. This was just like that. It was one of those dreams where you stepped out of yourself and looked back on what was happening, because you knew it was a dream. I was floating somewhere near the periscope as the whooping horn continued, wondering why I was dreaming about movie submarines.

  The answer came quickly. I felt Courtney bolt away from me and jump to her feet. It jostled me out of my dream and back to reality, sort of. I figured I was still half in my dream, because I was still hearing the whoop of the dive horn.

  Of course, it wasn’t a dive horn. It wasn’t a dream.

  Courtney knew that and was on her feet before I could tell the difference between dreamland and
Black Water.

  “Get up,” she commanded.

  “Why? What’s going on?” I mumbled.

  “It’s the warning alarm,” she answered quickly.

  “Warning? Warning for what?”

  “Two guesses,” she said, and headed for the bedroom door.

  I didn’t need the second guess. I was finally awake enough to understand what was happening, and it had nothing to do with submarines. Or dreams.

  The battle for Black Water was about to begin.

  Chapter 32

  Boon should stay here,” I announced as I came out of the bedroom, rubbing my eyes, trying to gear myself up.

  “What? No!” he protested. “Why?”

  “It isn’t fair to ask you to take sides,” I said. “Better that you sit it out.”

  “I have already chosen my side, Pendragon,” he shot back. “I do not agree with what Ravinia has done to Eelong.”

  “And you’re willing to side with the gars against the klees to prove it?” I asked. “That’s too much to ask.”

  Boon started to argue, but stopped himself. I don’t think he had thought it through that far. To side with the gars would mean to take up arms against his own kind. His own species. That would have been hard, if not impossible, no matter what the circumstances.

  “I agree with you, Bobby, but Boon can’t stay here,” Courtney said as she slipped into a lightweight green vest that covered her chest and back. It looked like protective gear.

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Because I can’t guarantee he’d be safe. Nobody around 424~PErrDRAG0rj~ here is going to know he’s on our side. All they’ll see is a klee, and if we aren’t here to protect him-”

  She didn’t finish the thought. She didn’t have to.

  “All right, I get it,” I admitted. “Boon comes.”

  “Put these on,” Courtney instructed, and handed each of us one of the green vests.