The Soldiers of Halla

by D. J. MacHale

  “That’s it,” I said. “I know it’s incredible, but it’s the truth. The exiles are now the last remaining source of positive spirit that is keeping Solara alive. At least, the Solara that has been guiding existence for so long. If anything happens to the exiles, the Travelers will be done, Solara will be done, and the split that Saint Dane has created will be complete. The dark spirit of Solara will control Halla. So you can see why we’re a little bit anxious about knowing whether or not the exiles are here.”

  Courtney nodded thoughtfully and said, “You probably think I’m having trouble accepting all this.”

  “Well, yeah. It’s not exactly the kind of thing you hear about every day.”

  She chuckled. “No, it isn’t. But the thing is, I already knew. At least, I knew some of it.”

  I glanced to Kasha. She looked just as stunned as I felt.

  “Wh—how?” I asked.

  Courtney smiled and motioned for us to follow her to the end of the tunnel.

  Kasha whispered, “I wish she would just tell us what she knows and eliminate the dramatics.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s Courtney.”

  We walked to the end of the tunnel and looked out onto the valley surrounded by mountains that was home to the gar colony of Black Water. Much of what I saw was the exact same. It was a pretty valley with a waterfall on the far end that fed a narrow river that wound its way through the farmland and eventually through the town itself. The buildings were wooden, like log cabins. They were built as concentric rings that grew larger as they moved away from the hub. I had seen all this before.

  What I hadn’t seen was that the village had grown much larger than when I had been there before. There were many more rings. If I were to guess, I’d say that the number of buildings had tripled. And grown in size. From the high perch we were on, I could see that the streets were full of people. More people than I remembered. Lots more. Even from our faraway vantage point, I could tell many of them weren’t gars. At least, they were much taller than the average gar.

  My heart leaped.

  Courtney could tell. “They’re here, Bobby,” she said with a smile. “All of them. More than all, actually. It’s been a couple of years, you know. Some babies were born.”

  I grabbed Courtney and held her again. My relief was complete. I flashed back to that horrible moment when the giant flume was created in Yankee Stadium that sucked thousands of innocent, terrified people into the void. It was known as the Bronx Massacre, and at the time I had no reason to doubt that I was watching a mass execution. But that wasn’t the case. They were here. Alive. Healthy. And safe. Sort of. For a fleeting moment I felt as if we had completed our mission. We had found the exiles. Truth was, our mission was only beginning. But at that very moment, all I felt was joy. They were here. They were alive. We were looking down on the people whose spirit was keeping Halla alive. It was a staggering thought. We were still here, Halla still had hope, because of them. Or more to the point, because of the powerful spirit they possessed. The spirit to survive and to thrive. These were the people who were keeping us in the battle to defeat Saint Dane. I didn’t know a single one of them, but I loved them all.

  I even thought I saw a tear in Kasha’s eye, and that’s saying something. “They do not know how precious they are,” she said, once again reading my mind.

  “No, they don’t,” Courtney agreed.

  “So then, how do you know?” I asked. “I mean, about Solara and the spirit and all?”

  Courtney shrugged. “I didn’t believe it at first. I didn’t understand. But everything you told me confirms it. So I guess it’s true. Wow.”

  She started walking down the slope toward the village.

  “But how did you hear about it?” I called to her.

  “From Nevva Winter,” she said, and continued walking.

  JOURNAL #37

  31

  Now I was the one who needed answers.

  I ran after Courtney. Boon and Kasha were right behind me, with the other gars keeping pace.

  “Nevva told you about Solara?” I asked, incredulous. “How? When?”

  “Wait until we get to my house,” she cautioned. “I have a lot to tell you.”

  She had that right. I couldn’t imagine any situation, or possibility, or opportunity, or reason that could have explained how Nevva Winter told Courtney about Solara. That was impossible. Yet Courtney knew, and she wasn’t one to make something like that up. She may have grown up a little, but she was still Courtney. I had all that I could do to stay calm and wait until we had the chance to talk.

  We descended along the slope that led down to the village. It was a route I had taken before and was familiar with, only this time we reached the first ring of structures much sooner. As I said, the size of the village had tripled to accommodate the exiles. The first ring of houses weren’t houses at all. They were larger than the other log-cabin homes and had no personal touches of any kind.

  “Defensive structures,” Courtney explained. “Like I said, we’re ready.”

  I didn’t know what kind of defense these wooden huts offered. I didn’t think they would do much against a dadoklee army, but it wasn’t the time to point that out. That would come soon enough. As we walked toward the center of the village, the structures became smaller and looked more like homes. I saw kids in the street playing catch, riding skateboards on paved roads, and generally running around. I could almost imagine this to be a suburban street back on Second Earth. The lineup of homes with front yards looked right out of suburbia. The idea that this quiet, hypernormal community was about to be under siege was almost too much to comprehend.

  “These outer rings are where the Yanks settled and made their homes,” Courtney explained.

  “Yanks?” I asked.

  “That’s what they call themselves. I was more of a Mets fan myself, but considering how they got here, I guess the name fits. They’ve become an important part of the Black Water community. There are people here with all sorts of skills. Carpenters, teachers, plumbers, farmers. This isn’t the Black Water you remember.”

  I looked around at the new structures. Though the general style was the same as when I had last been to Black Water, there were subtle differences that showed the hands of skilled craftsmen. Black Water had improved. You could even say it evolved. I had mixed feelings about it.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Courtney said. “We’re not supposed to mix the territories. Get over it. That ship sailed a long time ago, thanks to our demon friend.”

  She was right. Halla was in shambles. It was no longer what it should have been, thanks to Saint Dane’s Convergence. I figured that at this point, any positive move was a good one, even if it meant mixing technology and know-how from one territory with another’s.

  Many people called out a friendly “Hi!” to Courtney. She was well-known and liked. Of course, that was quickly followed by a sudden change in attitude when they saw two klees walking with us. It’s not like they ran into their homes and slammed the doors or anything. But I could read the confusion on their faces. Klees had become the hated enemy once again.

  We arrived at one of the small cabins in the outer ring of what was the old village. The huts beyond seemed older and crude. This was the dividing line between the old Black Water and the ring of new cabins that the exiles helped build. The Yanks. Incredible.

  “Wait here,” Courtney ordered.

  Boon, Kasha, and I did as we were told as she went to talk with the gars who had been escorting us. After a few words they cast us dark, worried looks, then reluctantly backed away and left us alone.

  Courtney returned and spoke to Boon and Kasha. “Don’t take it personally. They just don’t want to be eaten.”

  “Understood,” Kasha said.

  Courtney opened the front door and motioned for us to enter. “This is my home. It’s small, but it’s strange.”

  We entered to find a two-room home. The first room had a living area with some rough cha
irs and tables. Across from it was a sink and a fireplace. The door beyond led to a small bedroom.

  “Not exactly like what you’d find in Stony Brook,” Courtney said. “But it’s all I need. Who’s hungry?”

  As much as I wanted to eat, I had other more pressing things to worry about. “Uh, you do get that the klee army is on the way, right?” I asked.

  “I told you, we’re ready,” she answered. “How do you think you were shot out of the sky?”

  “Yes, how did you do that?” Boon asked.

  “We developed a weapon that fires a short, intense burst of radio waves,” she explained. “Some of the Yank geeks used the link radio technology that the gars developed and found a way to direct and control it. Don’t ask me to get more technical than that. It doesn’t affect living things, only mechanical devices.”

  “So it’ll shoot a gig out of the sky, but it won’t stop a living klee?” I asked.

  “Pretty much,” Courtney answered.

  “What about a dado klee?”

  Courtney gave me a dark look. I had finally given her a bit of information she didn’t already know. “You’re kidding, right? Dados?”

  “I wish.”

  “You mean that klee army on the way here might be dados?”

  “Sorry to give you the bad news,” I said.

  “Bad news? That’s the best news I’ve gotten in forever!”

  “Uh, it is?”

  “Eat first, business later.”

  Courtney set out a meal of fresh fruit that was harvested from the farms that circled the village. She even grilled some fish from the stream. Boon and Kasha preferred to eat their fish raw, which was kind of disgusting, but who am I to judge? I’m not a cat. Or a sushi guy. Courtney was all sorts of bubbly as she worked. Giving her the news about the dados seemed to energize her. How weird was that? I couldn’t speak for my klee friends, but I was starving. I was dying to hear Courtney’s story, but after all that had happened, I didn’t think it would hurt to eat a little. Or a lot. We didn’t speak much while Courtney busied herself cooking, but once we sat down to enjoy the meal, I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “You’re killing me here, you know,” I said.

  Courtney put her food down and looked off to nowhere in particular. It felt like she was winding her thoughts back. From the hard look in her eyes, it was clear that she wasn’t bringing up happy memories. Her light attitude was gone. When she spoke, she rarely made eye contact with us, as if she weren’t really in the room, but drifting through the past.

  “When the Ravinians threw us into the flume, I wasn’t scared. Not at first, anyway. I’d been through the flume before. The only thing strange about it was that I was flying along with other people.”

  “Were they the people Naymeer chose from outside the conclave?” I asked.

  “I guess. They were terrified. That much was for sure. I tried to calm them down and tell them that everything was going to be okay, though I wasn’t so sure about that myself. I figured the flume would send us to some territory that I knew about through your journals. That’s what I kept telling myself. It was going to be okay. I spent most of the journey trying to refresh my memory about all the various territories I’d read about.”

  “Did you see Mark?” I asked.

  Courtney shook her head. “The last I saw him was when he was trying to reach me in the crowd outside of the flume.” She sighed and continued. “We flew for a long time. Longer than the other flume journies I’d taken. Slowly the people I was traveling with separated. Some shot ahead faster. Others lagged behind. It wasn’t like we had a choice. We were totally at the mercy of the flume. It wasn’t long before I was alone. That’s when things started getting scary. Outside the crystal walls, the images of Halla were everywhere. It was like the entire universe was out there, jumbled together, looking at me. I saw a light far ahead in the flume. I thought I was nearing the end, but realized that the light was moving. Toward me. It seemed as if we were going to collide and that would be the end of the trip, and me. I covered my head, but the thing streaked by me in a blur of light and music. I looked back to see it disappear behind me. It was followed by another, then another. Some came from ahead of me, others caught up with me from behind and shot past. After a while I got used to it. No, I looked forward to it. Those streaks of light were the only things that kept me company and broke up the monotony.”

  “What do you think they were?” Kasha asked.

  Courtney shrugged. “All I can figure is that they were other people traveling through the flumes.”

  “They might have been,” I offered. “The Ravinians were sending people all over Halla.”

  “I lost track of time,” Courtney continued. “I know this sounds weird, but I can’t say how long I was in there. It could have been hours or months. I truly don’t know. It was like I was suspended in time and space. I’d never experienced that kind of loneliness before. I kept expecting to be dumped at a gate, but it never happened.”

  “But it did, when you arrived here,” Boon offered.

  “Well, sort of. When things started happening, it was dramatic. The flume started to shake. It was definitely a new sensation, and it didn’t feel right. I heard this deep rumble, like an earthquake. The tunnel must have moved, because I was thrown against the side wall and spun around. It didn’t hurt, but I was sent tumbling. I was terrified. It felt like the flume was falling apart, almost like what happened here on Eelong.”

  Courtney threw a pained look to Kasha. Kasha knew what she was talking about all too well. We all did.

  “I had no control. Up until that moment the ride through the flume was like floating on a warm cushion of air. Suddenly it felt like I was being tumbled inside of a washing machine. I kept getting glimpses out beyond the crystal walls and began to see stars, which meant the images of Halla were disappearing. I won’t lie. I thought it was the end of Halla right then and there. It felt like everything was coming apart.”

  I knew what Courtney was experiencing. I had witnessed the destruction of the flumes myself. As horrifying a sight as that was, I never thought that there might have been people traveling inside them when it happened.

  “Then everything went white, and I was floating again,” Courtney continued. “I thought I had been killed. I really did. I even thought I heard the voice of an angel. It was a voice I recognized. A woman. My mind was still flying fast, and it took a while for me to focus on her words. I heard her trying to calm me down by saying things like ‘relax’ and ‘you’re going to be okay.’ I kind of hoped she’d say ‘welcome to heaven,’ but that didn’t happen. Then I saw her face.”

  Courtney looked right at me and said, “It was Nevva Winter.”

  I didn’t react. How could I? I had no clue as to how that could have happened.

  “Where were you?” Kasha asked.

  “I didn’t know. At least not at first. I felt the pull of gravity again, so I knew I was no longer moving through the flume. I think I was lying on my back. All I saw was Nevva’s face looking down at me. Under any other circumstances I would have jumped up and slugged her, but I couldn’t move. And besides, hers was the first face I’d seen since I was separated from those people in the flume. As much as I hated her, I was happy to see her. I would have been happy to see anybody.”

  “Did she say anything else?” I asked.

  “Oh yeah. She said that she had given us a gift. All of us. I didn’t know who the heck she was talking about. She promised that the territory wouldn’t be touched. As much as she believed in the new vision for Halla, she also believed that there was good in the old way. And for that, she was protecting Eelong.”

  “Protecting Eelong,” Kasha repeated.

  Courtney nodded. “She said we should build a new life and make the best of what we had. She also asked that we not judge her too harshly. That was it. She was gone. I lay there for a while, trying to understand what had happened. Slowly my physical senses returned. I realized that I wasn’t surround
ed by white; I had been staring up into the sky. The first thing I recognized was the sunbelt. I knew then that I was definitely on Eelong.”

  I hadn’t touched a bite of food while Courtney told us her story. After hearing about Nevva, my hunger was gone for good. I stood up. My mind was racing too fast to let me sit still. What had Nevva done? And when had she done it? Did this happen before I brought Elli to Third Earth? Was it possible that Nevva had always questioned Saint Dane and his quest?

  “What are you thinking, Pendragon?” Kasha asked.

  “On Third Earth, Nevva panicked when I told her that Saint Dane was going to attack the exiles with an army of dados.”

  It was Courtney’s turn to jump to her feet.

  “Whoa! I thought that was a klee army headed this way. I didn’t know Saint Dane was behind it.”

  “I’m not sure he is,” I replied. “At least, not directly. The Ravinians brought dados here, so it’s not like Saint Dane had nothing to do with it. But I don’t think he planned this attack.”

  Courtney frowned. “But you said Saint Dane was going to attack with a dado army.”

  “He is. I saw thousands of dados on Third Earth that Saint Dane said would be used against the exiles. Nevva said he was going to create a flume to move them. But he didn’t know that the exiles were here until recently. So I don’t think the army that’s on the way here has anything to do with the dados from Third Earth. I think this attack would have happened anyway.”

  “Oh. Swell. That means there’s going to be another attack after this one?” Courtney cried.

  “Unless the klee army does Saint Dane’s dirty work for him. However it happens, Saint Dane wants the exiles dead.”

  “But Nevva didn’t,” Kasha said.

  I said, “Strange as it may seem, it’s looking like Nevva did what she could to try and preserve one of the original territories of Halla. Why she picked Eelong, I have no idea, but that was her plan, and it looks like she somehow directed the exiles to be sent here to help keep the territory alive.”