That one hit too close to home. I lost it and swung my stave at him in anger. He took a simple step back and danced out of the way. I had swung for the fences and missed, losing my balance and nearly falling over in the process. I sensed that the Ghee warriors were once again laughing, but I didn't care. I had to force myself to get my act together.

That's more like it," said Saint Dane, chuckling. "Rage is such an exhilarating emotion, no?"

He flipped his stave again and clipped me on the knee. I staggered, but I was back in control. At least of my emotions, anyway. I had to be. It was the only chance I had. Saint Dane was making me look bad, but I was beginning to think that making me look foolish was exactly what this fight was about. To embarra.s.s me. To show his power over me. There was no question that if he wanted to, he could knock me silly. But he hadn't. Don't get me wrong, the knocks I was taking hurt, but they weren't serious. I figured I'd be black and blue the next day, but I'd survive. It made my confidence grow. I figured I knew what this fight was about. I decided it was time to fight back.

So I laughed.

"You find this amusing?" Saint Dane asked with a touch of confusion.

"Getting hit, no," I said. "But when you try this hard, all it says is you're getting desperate."

He didn't expect that. He jabbed his stave out at me, but I dodged it.

"Four times," I continued, trying not to let the pain creep into my voice. "That's how many times you've tried to control a territory, and how many times we've stopped you cold."

He spun around and swung his weapon at me. I ducked. He missed, but it was so close I felt the wind rustle my hair. If he had connected, he would have knocked me into next Tuesdaya if there was such a thing as Tuesday on Zadaa.

"And Veelox?" he asked. I heard the confidence in his voice waver.

"No biggie," I said c.o.c.kily. "When you go down for good, we're going back and pull Veelox out too. Aja is working on it right now. Veelox was a draw."

Saint Dane took a step back as if I had physically hit him. I was definitely getting to him. I didn't think it was because of what I was saying. None of it was new news. It was more the way I was saying it, with absolute confidence. It was becoming pretty clear that Saint Dane's plan to embarra.s.s me in this fight, wasn't working. I was slowly getting the upper hand.

"You can beat up on me all you want," I said. "But you can't change the truth. You are losing. I think you know it too. You're getting so desperate that you've resorted to beating me up with a stick. How pathetic is that?"

Saint Dane staggered. Oh yeah, I was. .h.i.tting him worse than he had hit me.

"You can't even make me feel bad about Uncle Press anymore, because he promised that one day I would see him again. And I believe that. I believe all the Travelers will be together again. I don't know how, but you know what? I think you do. Oh yeah, you know exactly how it's going to happen, and you're getting nervous because that time is getting closer. And when we're all together again, it'll be the end of your sad little quest."

I was hammering him, bad. I saw it in his eyes. He clutched his stave, wringing it fitfully. It was time to go in for the kill.

"And you know what? The real reason you're going down is because that's the way it was meant to beaand there's nothing you can do to change it."

Since the day I learned that I was a Traveler, I had made a lot of mistakes. Some of them small, others not so small. What I had just done with Saint Dane in the Ghee compound on Zadaa was one of the big ones. Saint Dane's plan in picking this fight may have been to embarra.s.s me in front of the Ghees and hurt my confidence, but in that one second, his plan changed. I'm sorry to say that I changed it. What happened next I had brought on myself, with my words. The only good thing I can say about it was that it was fast.

Saint Dane took me apart.

With an angry roar he charged at me, the wooden stave spinning like a helicopter blade. I threw my weapon up to protect myself, but Saint Dane dropped to one knee and kicked up at me with his boot, catching me right in the gut and knocking the air out of my lungs. I doubled over as he stood, driving his knee into my forehead. He was done playing. He wanted to hurt me. To say that I had never taken a beating like this is probably the biggest understatement I have ever made. When his knee hit me, I saw colors. Splotches of green and yellow floated everywhere. My ears rang.

I had a vague understanding that the Ghee warriors were laughing and cheering, but they sounded like they were on the far end of a long tunnel. I turned away to get my balance and cover up, but I wasn't fast enough. A dark flash hit me square on the cheek that must have been Saint Dane's weapon. It spun me around so fast, everything went blurry. I think this is when I dropped my weapon, not that it wasdoing me any good anyway. I fell to my knees and looked up in time to see Saint Dane winding up and attacking me with his weapon like a lumberjack chopping with a giant axe. The stave came straight down at me.

In that one fleeting instant I realized that this could be the end. It's amazing how many thoughts can race through your head so quickly. In times like this, it's almost like time slows down. It suddenly all seemed so clear. Forget the games. Forget the mystery and the misdirection and the complex plots to turn the territories toward chaos. The only thing standing between Saint Dane and the conquest of Halla were the Travelers, and I was their leader. With me out of the way, he would have a much easier time. Believe it or not, in that one instant I actually wondered what had taken him so long to figure that out.

Saint Dane was trying to kill me.

But I wasn't giving up. I threw my arm up and caught the full brunt of the blow. It didn't even hurt. My battered body was beyond pain at this point. My brain couldn't process it anymore. I deflected the blow from my head, but the force was so strong it knocked me onto my back. Saint Dane leaped at me, ramrodding the end of his weapon into my ribs. Once, twice, again. I knew he must be breaking bones, but I couldn't feel anything anymore. The demon got right into my face.

"Beg me to stop," he hissed angrily. He hit me in the ribs again. I looked into his eyes. They had returned to lightning whiteaand were mad with rage. "Beg me," he demanded. I felt his spittle land on my cheek. His anger had turned to frenzy. There was no plan here. No plot. No trickery. He had lost it.

"Thisis the way it was meant to be, cretin," he growled. "This is what the future holds, for you and your like. That is the promise I made, and I will keep it." He hit me again, but I was beyond caring. "You will beg for my forgiveness and mercy."

I looked up at him. I can't begin to tell you where I got the strength or the bra.s.s to do this, but I smiled and croaked out, "Dude, you are talking to the wrong guy."

He froze. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because he couldn't believe I had that kind of bra.s.s either. At least, that's what I hoped. But the shocked look on his face quickly turned back into a fury that I feared would finally put an end to this beating, and my life. He reared back and let out a howl like a wild animal standing over fallen prey. He looked back down at me and raised his weapon. This was it. End of the line.

"Stop!" I heard a voice call out.

Saint Dane snapped a look to the crowd. He hesitated long enough so that two Ghee warriors had the chance to run in and pull him off me. Somebody had saved me. There was somebody out there who took pity on a poor Rokador. But I didn't recognize the voice. I was flat on my back and barely able to move, but I painfully turned my head to where the command had come from.

Standing in the crowd was a new spectator. He wore a dark purple robe that covered his head. It looked familiar, but I didn't know why. How could I possibly know anybody on Zadaa? I then remembered where I had seen him before. It was at the zhou battle. He was the mysterious guy who was in the tier above me, watching the fight. Whoever this guy was, he was my new best friend. He took a step into the circle, and I was surprised to see that the Ghee warriors backed away from him and knelt down on one knee.

Who was this guy?

He walked up to me and said in a soft, compa.s.sionate voice, "This is not what we are about." He then took off the robe to reveal a tall, dark-skinned guy who wore an incredibly ornate, bright red tunic with an elaborate design around the neck. He held out his hand to me and said, "I am Pelle, heir to the throne of Zinj. We will take care of you."

I looked at the guy's hand. For a moment I thought about reaching up for him. After all, he was my new best friend. Instead, everything went black and I pa.s.sed out.

JOURNAL #20.

(CONTINUED).

ZADAA.

Thefirst thing I saw was Loor.

I had opened my eyes a crack. Only a crack. That's as far as they'd go. I guess it was because they were swollen from the pummeling I'd gotten. But I didn't have to open them far to recognize Loor. She was sitting close, looking at me. The expression on her face didn't change when I opened my eyes. I think that's because my eyes didn't open far enough to even look like they were open. But I could see her, and she looked fine. And worried.

"How long?" I asked, though I have no idea what it sounded like because my mouth felt about as dry as that sand farm where we met the Tiggen guards. When she heard me croak, Loor snapped to attention and came to my side. She knelt down near my head, which made me realize I was in bed and not still lying in the Ghee compound.

"Pendragon!" she exclaimed. "I was afraid you would never wake up!" There was true feeling in her voice. She sounded worried, relieved, concerneda all those good emotions I wasn't sure she actually had in her. At least as they applied to me, anyway. It made me feel much better. Okay, maybe notmuchbetter since I was a swollen ma.s.s of throbbing pain. But I figured I should take the good stuff where I could get it.

"Water?" I asked, and immediately realized I had just asked for the one thing it was probably impossible to give. But I got it. Loor held a cup to my mouth, and I took a sip. It felt good on my lips, and in my mouth, but I coughed when I tried to swallow and blew most of it back out again. What a waste of an eighth of an ounce of liquid gold.

"Oops" was all I could say, lamely.

"Again," Loor ordered and gave me another sip.

I was in more control this time and was able to take a sip and swallow. The water helped to lubricate things a little, so I was able to speak without sounding like Frankenstein's monster.

"How long?" I asked again.

"Since the fight?" Loor asked.

I nodded. It hurt to nod. I was about to find out that doing a lot of things was going to hurt. Including breathing, eating, movingapretty much everything including blinking. Yes, it even hurt to blink.

"You have been asleep for twelve suns," Loor answered.

Twelve suns. The days on Zadaa were around twenty-four hours long, as far as I could tell. That meant I had been unconscious for nearly two weeks, give or take a sun. I think Loor must have seen the surprise on my face because she quickly said, "You were given herbs to help you sleep, and heal."

Oh. So I had been drugged for nearly two weeks. I guessed that was better than being in a coma from having been beaten into mush. I was slowly focusing, which wasn't such a hot thing. My mind was coming around, but that meant I was becoming more aware of the sad and painful shape I was in.

Everything hurt. Everything. Except my toes. My toes were cool. Woo-hoo! I thought of asking for a little bit more of that herb she had mentioned so I could slip back into dreamland, but decided I should stick around in reality for a while. Looking around, I saw that we were in a small room with stone walls. It looked very much like Loor's home in the Ghee pyramid, but there wasn't much in here except for the bed with the gra.s.s mattress that I was lying on, a stone chair where Loor had been sitting, and a low table that had some cups on it. Loor must have seen that I was trying to get my bearings because she said, "This is where the Batu care for the sick and injured."

I was in the Batu hospital. It looked straight out ofThe Flintstones.I wondered if some goofy pelican would show up and deliver my medication. I know, dumb thought, but give me a break. I was hurting, and drugged.

"Saint Dane?" I whispered.

"Gone," was Loor's answer. "I asked many of the Ghee if they knew him, but n.o.body had ever seen him before. I believe Saint Dane turned himself into a Ghee warrior solely toato-"

"To beat me into jelly," I said, putting it bluntly.

"I am ashamed that I could not help you, Pendragon," Loor said, dropping her head in embarra.s.sment.

"Don't be," I croaked. "There was nothing you could do. I know that."

She nodded like she knew it too, but she was definitely feeling bad about the whole thing. Maybe not as bad as I felt just then, but bad just the same.

"We will avenge you," she said with venom. "Of that, I swear."

"Yeah, maybe," I said. "But that might be what he wants. Everything he does is about pushing us into doing things that help him. He may have beat me up just to get you to go after him. We can't fall into that trap."

Loor nodded again, and took my hand. I nearly screamed. It was the same hand I had thrown up to deflect Saint Dane's killer blow. He must have broken bones. But you know, I didn't stop her. It was a rare event when Loor showed me a sign of affection. I wasn't going to let a little thing like searing pain from broken bones stop her. I tried to squeeze her hand back, but I didn't have much of a grip.

"You are being cared for by the finest doctor in Xhaxhu," she a.s.sured me.

"Don't they hate Rokadors?" I asked.

"Not when the prince of Zinj himself orders that you be cared for," Loor answered proudly. "There have been two Ghee warriors guarding your room since you arrived. You are safe here."

"I like that guy," I said, stating the obvious. "What's his name again? Payday something-or-other?"

"Pelle a Zinj," she said. "I believe he holds the future of Xhaxhu, and Zadaa, in his hands. He is a man of peace; that is why he stopped theathe fight."

"It wasn't a fight," I said. "It was a slaughter."

Loor didn't comment. "You will heal," she said. "And we will return to our mission."

Our mission. Right. That mission had taken a strange turn.

"Saint Dane totally lost it," I said. "He wanted to kill me. It didn't seem like an act or anything. If it weren't for that prince guy, he would have."

"I agree," Loor said. "His rage consumed him."

I pulled my hand away from Loor's. Affection or not, it hurt.

"Maybe that means he's getting desperate," I said. "We may be closer to beating him than we think."

"If only that were true," Loor lamented.

"There's something else," I said. "When Saint Dane was at his worst, he said something strange. He said that this is what the future holds for me, and those like me. He said it was a promise he made, and he was going to keep it. What kind of promise is that? And who did he make it to?"

Loor frowned. "Saint Dane has always brought pain and suffering. But to know he made someone a promise to do so isatroubling."

"Yeah, troubling," I said. "That's one way of putting it. I'd say it's freaking scary. Could there be somebody else out there who Saint Dane answers to?"

We let that question hang in the air. The possibility was far too horrifying to even think about.

"Whatever the answer is," Loor said, "we will not find it until you are well. You must rest. She backed away from me and sat down in the chair.

"Go home," I said. "As long as there are guards outside, I'll be fine."

"Either Saangi or I have been by your side from the time you were brought here," Loor said. "We will be here until you walk out with us."

Wow. Loor and Saangi had been watching over me. That's a strange thing to hear. I hoped I didn't drool in my sleep. I was grateful, of course. But I wasn't sure why they did it. Was it because I was the lead Traveler, and they needed me in the battle against Saint Dane? Or did Loor have deeper feelings than that? As I lay there, watching Loor sitting up straight in the chair, I remembered back to the first time I met her on Denduron. She thought I was useless. It bothered me because n.o.body likes to be seen as a loser, but I had no idea how to prove her wrong. She was self-confident to the point of arrogance, with the ability to cut through all the junk to see the truth in most any situation. I, on the other hand, was totally freaked out about being yanked away from home. I spent most of my time in a frightened and confused haze. Her confidence gave me strength and clarity. Together we saved Denduron.

I've grown up a lot since then, but in many ways I still feel like the scared kid who left home on the back of Uncle Press's motorcycle. Loor, on the other hand, is a rock. Since Denduron I'd often asked for her help, and she always came through. Now the fight had come to Zadaa. Her home. This time, she needed my help. As I lay on that bed, numb from pain and starting to drift off to sleep again, I swore to myself that no matter what happened from here on, I would not let her down.

I'm not exactly sure how much time I spent in that Batu hospital. If I were to guess, I'd say it was about a month. Medical care on Zadaa wasn't exactly like what we have on Second Earth. There were no thermometers or blood tests or intravenous drips or anything like we have in our hospitals at home. Medicine was limited to some foul-tasting liquids that I had to drink every couple of hours. This guy would come in who I a.s.sumed was a doctor. He'd put his hands on my head and on my arm as if he could "sense" what was wrong with me, and then give me a different concoction to choke down. It all seemed so bogus, except for the fact that I gradually began to feel better.

Like I said, at first I couldn't even move. Every part of my body was swollen and sore. Even my face. I had been healing for a month before I even realized this! Rolling over in bed was a major challenge, but this doctor guy kept insisting that I move. He was relentless, saying that the only way I would heal was to move. I wanted to slug him. I think I would have, if I had been able to lift my arms and make a fist, that is. But that wasn't going to happen. If I could have done some damage on the guy with my toes, I would have.

I think I would have argued more with him, if Loor or Saangi hadn't been there watching. I didn't want to look like a wuss in front of them. But man, I was in pain. It was like medieval physical therapy, with the only reward for all the hard work being some drink that made Listerine taste like sn.i.g.g.e.rs. At first he just had me roll over in bed. Then he got me to sit up, then stand. That was a tough one. My legs were so weak they wouldn't even hold my weight at first. But my strength returned pretty quick. I think the only broken bones I had were in my left hand, the one I deflected the weapon with. Maybe a couple of ribs, too. I didn't know for sure because there was no such thing as an X-ray machine. But if pain was any indicator, bones were broken. They had my arm wrapped pretty tight with cloth to keep my wrist from moving. I probably had a concussion, too. That's how bad the headaches were. And the dizziness.

As the days went by, the headaches got less intense and the room stopped spinning. I guess I don't have to say that I had never gone through anything like that before, so it's hard to say how well I was doing. But it seemed to me that after the ma.s.sive beating I took, I was healing pretty quickly.

The big day finally came that I could walk out of the room and into the corridor. But that was only half of what made it such a big day. The doctor was on my left and Loor on my right, in case I took a header. With all this support, I took my first tentative steps out of the room. I felt like the Tin Woodsman inThe Wizard of Ozbefore they oiled him up. Everything was creaky and stiff. But I knew I had to work through it, so I shuffled out. The hallway stretched out to either side of my door, with rooms s.p.a.ced every few yardsajust like a hospital at home. Nothing special. But man, I was happy to see something other than the four walls of that room. The next thing I saw were two, huge Ghee guards standing on either side of my door, just as Loor had said.

"Hi, guys," I said, all friendly.

Neither answered or even looked at me. They may have been a.s.signed to protect a Rokador, but they didn't have to like it. I decided not to push it. I took one more step, when suddenly the two guards knelt down on their knees and dropped their heads. For a second I thought they were being all respectful toward me. But then the doctor and Loor did the same thing.

"Uhh, what's the deal?" I asked, confused.

A second later I got my answer. Walking boldly down the corridor toward us was an impressive sight. It was a group of men led by Pelle a Zinj, the crown prince of Xhaxhu. He was wearing the same ornate clothing he had worn on the day he saved me, along with a purple cape that trailed behind. He was followed by a couple of other royal-looking types, along with two Ghee warriors. It was a royal entourage, and I was standing in their way.

"On your knees," one of the Ghee guards growled in a whisper.

I wanted to kneel down, but my body wouldn't let me. So I stood there kind of hunched over and bowed my head. It was the best he was going to get.

Pelle spotted me and broke into a big smile. "You are walking!" he said with a friendly bellow. "I am so happy to see that."

I then realized he was coming to see me! "Forgive me, I can't kneel," I said while keeping my eyes on the ground.

"There is no need, my friend," Pelle said. "Everyone, please rise." Everybody else got back to their feet, but kept their heads down in deference to their prince.

"What is your name?" the prince asked me.

"Pendragon," I answered.