The Quillan Games (48 page)

“Wippen,” she answered. “We found that game on Eelong. It isn't quite as exciting with horses as with zenzens, but it will do.”

“You've been to Eelong?” I shouted. I was reeling.

“Interesting place,” she answered. “I wouldn't have minded staying longer, if it weren't for the fact that those cat creatures thought we were food.”

“But . . . are you Travelers?”

“I don't understand the question,” she said.

“Yes you do!” I shouted. “You have to! Only Travelers can use the flumes. If you're not Travelers, then you would have destroyed them. Saint Dane must have told you that!”

“You mentioned that name before,” she said. “Who is this Saint Dane person?”

“Don't lie to me!” I shouted. “You have to know Saint Dane. That's who sent me the invitation to come here!”

“I'm sorry. I never heard the name. Is he from Veelox as well?”

This was maddening. Veego and LaBerge couldn't be from
Veelox or they would have destroyed the flumes when they traveled.

“I don't believe you,” I said. “If you're really from a different territory, and you're not Travelers, when you jumped into the flume you would have destroyed it. End of story.”

“I do seem to remember something about that,” she said calmly. The tide had turned. Veego was back in charge and I was groping again. My brief moment of control was long gone. The feeling I had while standing before the multitudes of Rune was less than a memory.

“Mr. Kayto explained it,” she said. “He said that as long as we went through the flume with him, there would be no trouble. Obviously he was right, because there wasn't any. Marvelous devices, those flumes. Though I must admit, I don't fully understand how they work or what the difference is between territories. Maybe you can explain that to me.”

“Mr. Kayto,” I said. “The trustee. He's the one who brought you here?”

“He came to Veelox in search of talent to resurrect the gaming business here on Quillan,” she answered. “And found us. Veelox is in shambles, in case you didn't know. Lifelight is failing. There is no one left who cares. Everyone has chosen to stay in their own fantasies . . . and they are dying there. People are starving. Power plants are failing. There is no food. Even the gloid plants are shuttered. It's a nightmare. When Mr. Kayto offered us an alternative, we jumped at it, so to speak.”

“What about Aja?” I asked.

“She's fighting a losing battle,” Veego said. “She's very noble, trying to keep those poor souls alive. But it's impossible. Which is why I'm here talking to you.”

That was it. That was the connection. Saint Dane went to Veelox in the form of Mr. Kayto. Veego and LaBerge didn't know
his true identity. That's how Saint Dane got the invitation to send to me. Everything was falling into place . . . and falling apart.

Veego continued, “Now, I've told you what I'm doing here, what are
you
doing here?”

How could I answer that question simply? This woman had no clue about Travelers and Halla and what Saint Dane's true goal was. I didn't think for a second it would do any good to try to explain it to her. Not her. Not to someone who used people as pawns to serve her own selfish purposes.

“I—I think I'm here to compete in the Grand X,” I said. That was the honest truth.

“You think?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think. That's the best I can do for you. Sorry.”

I suddenly felt very tired.

“I don't know who you really are, Pendragon, or where you're from or what Travelers are, but I did see what you tried to do on Veelox. You wanted to destroy Lifelight, and you almost succeeded. For all I know, that may have been a good thing. I don't care anymore. All I care about are my games and my life here on Quillan. LaBerge and I plan on being here a good long time, and we will not let you destroy something that is so perfect.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked. “Cancel the games? Pull me out? You saw how popular I am. Blok would get rid of you so fast your brother wouldn't have time to pack up his little clown dolls.”

For the first time since I'd met her, Veego looked unsure of herself. She bit her lip.

“No,” she finally said. “You will compete. I don't care if you win or you lose. I don't care if you die or become the greatest challenger of all time. All I care about is that you compete.”

“Then we're on the same page,” I said. “That's all I want
too. I want to compete and I want to win. You have my word on that.”

Veego looked at me and nodded. “We'll take it one step at a time. After the Grand X, if you're still alive, we'll decide what to do from there.”

“Agreed,” I said.

Veego stood up straight. The cool, calm woman was back. She walked to the door, saying, “Get a good night's sleep, Challenger Red. The Grand X is tomorrow.” She yanked the door open, walked through, and slammed it shut.

I sat there for a good long time, trying to make sense of what she'd told me. She and LaBerge were from Veelox. I believed that. There was no other way she could know those things. But they weren't Travelers, which opened up a whole new, scary chapter in this already twisted story. Ordinary people could travel safely, so long as they were with a Traveler. They had no idea that Mr. Kayto was really a demon named Saint Dane, which meant they had no clue as to his plans for the destruction of Halla.

The thought of what this all meant was horrifying. The Travelers weren't supposed to mix the territories. I was told that again and again by Uncle Press. I'd learned it myself more times than I could count. Territories had to play out their own destinies, without contamination from other worlds and cultures and times. Travelers were able to intercede, but they always had to work within the defined ways of a territory. That was the way it had to work. The Travelers had always tried to abide by that rule.

And now Saint Dane was flaunting it. He had tried to tip the natural balance of every territory he'd visited. He'd found the turning point on each territory and worked his evil to push events the wrong way. Now it seemed as if he were taking the next step by deliberately intermingling worlds. Was this his
ultimate plan? Was he going to create chaos by having cultures and people collide? Was this how he intended to crush Halla? I didn't pretend to understand the natural balance of all existence, and what might happen when that's thrown off, but Saint Dane seemed to.

I'd thought that for Saint Dane, Quillan was about setting me up to get beaten. I learned there was a whole lot more to it when I met the revivers and saw their plans to take back the territory. But now it looked like Saint Dane had shifted into another gear. He was trying to blow Quillan apart by bringing in ordinary people and unique ideas from other territories. I couldn't even begin to guess what that would lead to, for Quillan and Halla.

My head was exploding. I needed to talk to Nevva. She had to work her influence with the trustees to get rid of Veego and LaBerge. The games had to be shut down. We needed to get those two back to Veelox where they belonged. Quillan needed to be put back on its natural course. This had gotten bigger than Blok. This was about the future of Halla. I ran to the door. It was locked. My door was never locked. I threw my shoulder against it. It didn't budge. I was a prisoner. A second later the door flew open. Standing there were three security dados.

“Is there something we can get for you?” one asked.

I slammed the door. I was trapped. Veego was going to keep a very close watch on Challenger Red.

Challenger Red. That's right. The realization hit me. There was no way out of it. Tomorrow was the Grand X. I had to put these conflicting thoughts out of my head and focus. If I didn't, I feared it might truly be the beginning of the end . . . not for just Quillan, but for Halla.

The only thing left for me to do was win.

(CONTINUED)

C
ompared to the excitement of the day before, the Grand X was kind of a letdown, at least as a spectacle. This wasn't like a big sporting event with cheering crowds and cheerleaders and bands playing and whatnot. It was actually the reverse of what I was used to. With most sports you practice day after day with your team and your coaches, alone. Nobody watches. Nobody cheers. The payoff comes on game day when the crowds come out, everybody gets ramped up, and the excitement kicks in. With the Grand X, all the excitement was the day before with the parade through Rune and the rally at the Blok building. For the actual event nobody was there to watch and cheer. There were a bunch of dados keeping an eye on things, Veego and LaBerge, who told us what to do, Challenger Green, and me. That was it.

Of course I knew there were cameras everywhere that saw our every move and sent the images all over Quillan to be watched by millions. I had seen the crowds in the streets, their gazes riveted on the giant screens. I knew people would
be watching and cheering, probably in numbers greater than ever before. But I didn't see any of that. It was just me, Challenger Green, and the future of all existence.

Did I have butterflies? Oh yeah.

Fourteen came to my room as soon as the sun was up. I was dressed and ready.

“Is there anything I can do for you before the competition begins?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Tell Miss Winter that I need to speak with her as soon as possible.”

If anything happened to me, Nevva needed to know what was going on with Veego and LaBerge. She needed to know that Saint Dane had brought them from Veelox and that they were importing items and ideas from other territories. As dramatic as everything else was that was happening on Quillan, Veego and LaBerge's operation spelled the biggest trouble for all of Halla.

“Of course,” Fourteen said.

The two of us walked silently from my room, down through the castle, and out into the forest. The whole time I worked on staying focused on the games. As confident as I was, all that Veego revealed to me the night before had me rattled. If there were ever a time that I needed to keep my head on straight and not let anything distract me, it was then. But it was tough. I hoped that once the competition began, I'd be locked into the moment and all the other worries would go away. If they didn't, I'd be in trouble.

Fourteen led me along a windy path until we came to a grassy clearing that was roughly the size of a tennis court. There was nothing special about the place. There were no markings or apparatus. Standing across from me on the far side was Challenger Green, along with his service dado, who looked just like Fourteen. I gave Green a slight nod. He
scowled at me. He didn't like that I had stolen his thunder. I hoped I could use his anger to my advantage. If we were going to be playing with emotion, I had to be cool. Anger led to mistakes. My confidence rose. . . .

Until I saw what the first game was going to be. Any hope I had of putting aside my worries about what impact this would have on the rest of Halla was shot to pieces. First off, this wasn't a game that Nevva had prepped me for. But that was okay. I had played this game before many times. I was good at it. But that was also the bad news. I had played this game before . . . on the territory of Zadaa. As soon as I saw the equipment, I knew that Veego and LaBerge had been to Zadaa. It was another case of worlds being mingled.

I had to force that worry out of my head as Fourteen helped me on with the gear. He gave me stretchy bands that fit above my biceps and above my knees. Each of these bands had a round red peg attached on one end that was about ten inches long and stuck out like red horns. He also gave me a lightweight helmet with the same kind of peg sticking up from the top. I knew what the final piece would be before seeing it. It was a heavy wooden stave about six feet long. When Fourteen handed it to me, I felt its weight and thought it was a pretty good replica of the weapons they had on Zadaa. For all I knew, it had actually come from Zadaa.

“Good luck, Pendragon,” Fourteen said.

“Piece of cake,” I said, and winked at him. I had grown to really like Fourteen. Unlike everything and everyone else I encountered on Quillan, there was no mystery about him.

Veego and LaBerge appeared out of the forest, dressed for the big event. Veego had on her purple jumpsuit, but this one was trimmed in gold. LaBerge was much more flamboyant, with a multicolored robe that made him look like the king of Gumdrop Mountain. Neither looked happy. Even LaBerge
wasn't his normal, bubbly, annoying self. Veego motioned for her brother to go to the center of the clearing while she came to me. I didn't like the look in her eyes. I couldn't tell if it was anger or fear. Whatever it was, she was trying her best to keep her emotions in check.

“Nice day for a beating, don't you think?” I asked cheerily.

“It won't work,” she said through clenched teeth.

“What won't work?” I asked.

“You won't destroy these games,” she snarled.

“What's your problem?” I said innocently. “I'm here, aren't I? I'm ready to compete.”

“There has been next to no wagering . . . on either of you!” she said as her head started to shake with pent-up rage. Tears of anger formed in her eyes. But she stayed in control. “This is the Grand X! Wagering is normally tripled. It seems as if you're insidious little speech had some effect.”

It took a lot for me not to smile. It wasn't my speech alone that had done it. It was the revivers. They turned the Grand X into a contest that was about showing Blok they were ready to take back control of their lives. My confidence rose again. There was a real chance that the people of Quillan could turn things around. I decided not to say that to Veego.

“I don't know what to tell you,” I said. “Maybe they're waiting for later in the competition. You know, to see how things are going.”