The Rivers of Zadaa tpa-6 Page 11

  “Kidik,” Loor answered. “That would be dangerous,” she said.

  “Yup,” I shot back. “That’s why we’re here right now, to make sure we’ve all got a chance of getting in and out alive.”

  Loor nodded, thinking this over. She got up and stood in front of me.

  “Stand up,” she ordered.

  I got to my feet slowly. In the short time since we had been lying down, my muscles had already gone stiff. I think I was getting a taste of what it’s like to be eighty. I stood in front of Loor, looking into her eyes. She was an inch or two taller than me. I resisted the temptation to go up on my toes. She grabbed my arm, feeling my bicep. With a quick, dismissive “humph,” she checked my other arm. She turned me around and felt my lats, then down to my legs, where she clasped my quads, and then my calves. I felt like a horse being examined before being sent to auction. To be honest, I didn’t mind it…until Loor said, “You are weak.”

  “Hey, I’ve been hurt, remember?” I said defensively. “My muscle tone is shot.”

  “That is true,” Loor said dismissively. “But there was not much there to begin with.”

  I bit my lip. She was the expert, but being told that I was a puny, pathetic specimen didn’t do much for my ego. Or confidence.

  “Does that mean it’s hopeless?” I asked.

  “No,” she answered with a sigh. “It means you must learn to be clever, because you will never win a fight with force.”

  Oh.

  Not that I really expected it, but once I made the decision, I have to admit that there were a few times I envisioned myself becoming a warrior who was all cut up and fierce looking. I guess that would be a little much to ask for, seeing as we didn’t have much time and I had been hurt and-Oh, who am I kidding? I had no chance of coming close to the kind of warrior Loor was. Never did. But I needed to know how to defend myself. So I put my ego aside and took the criticism as constructive.

  “What do we do first?” I asked.

  “We rest,” Loor answered. “Saangi will return soon with our provisions. We will eat, then sleep. Tomorrow morning we will begin.”

  So far it sounded pretty cake. Saangi returned to Mooraj a few hours later, bringing with her more food than I could have imagined. She had a sack full of bread and fruit and some kind of nutty-tasting cheese that I couldn’t get enough of. She also brought a large, leather bag filled with water. Precious water. If we were going to be working out, we needed as much as possible. After we had eaten our fill, I said, “Thank you, Saangi. You’re amazing.”

  “It is my job,” she said with a shrug. “I will leave now and bring more.”

  “No,” Loor ordered. “We have plenty for now. I will need you here tomorrow, when the training begins.”

  Saangi’s eyes lit up.

  “I will take part?” she asked hopefully.

  “Of course,” Loor said. “Did I not promise that?”

  Suddenly Saangi wasn’t so sour anymore. She opened up and told us all about how she collected the fruit and smuggled the water into the underground, all under the noses of the Ghee. I liked Saangi…most of the time. Other times she was kind of a loose cannon. As long as things were going her way, she was fine. But if things didn’t go the way she liked, she let you know it. I suppose it’s okay to be moody, as long as you know when to let it go. I guess what I’m saying is that I didn’t entirely trust Saangi. Not that I thought she was against me or anything, but I wasn’t convinced that if things got scary, I could count on her.

  To be honest, the thought also crossed my mind that she might have been Saint Dane in disguise. I couldn’t totally dismiss that possibility, but I couldn’t dwell on it. If I started thinking that way, I’d have to look at everybody I met as possibly being Saint Dane, and I’d turn into a paranoid wreck. I had to be trusting, but wary.

  “We must sleep now,” Loor announced. “We begin first thing in the morning.”

  “First thing” felt as if it came about two minutes after I lay down to go to sleep. It was pitch dark. I was having a sweet dream about bouncing along on a skimmer on the beautiful, warm waters of Cloral. I hit some waves and got buffeted, but stayed upright, handling the rough motion. That is, until I realized it wasn’t a dream. Loor was shaking me awake.

  “Get up,” she commanded.

  I struggled to get up on my elbows, only to see…nothing. It was pitch black.

  “Morning,” I said cheerily. “Isn’t it still last night?”

  “We must work now, before the sun comes up,” Loor explained. “Unless you’d prefer to work during the heat of the day.”

  I forced myself awake. “No, no, I’m with you. Cool is cool.”

  “Get dressed,” Loor ordered. “Meet us outside.”

  I heard the sound of Loor walking away. It was time to getmycreaky bones up and moving. I figured we’d start out with a little road work like boxers do. Then we’d move on to some tactics and learn about weapons.

  We didn’t.

  I put on my Rokador jacket and sandals, then followed her outside. It was still pitch dark. I couldn’t see two feet in front of me and had to stretch my hands out in front for fear of walking into a wall. I found the doorway and stepped outside to ask, “What do we do-“

  Whack. I got smacked on the side of the head.

  “Hey!” I shouted. “What was that-“

  Smack. A shot came from the other side. It was so dark I had no idea who was hitting me, or from where. It didn’t hurt. Much. It was more about the surprise.

  “A simple game,” Loor said.

  “Game?” I shouted angrily. “I can’t see a thing.”

  Whack. I got hit on the shoulder.

  “Yes, you can,” Loor said calmly.

  Smack. Whap. I got rocked twice; the second time I fell to the ground.

  “No, I can’t! Give me a break, it’s dark!” I complained. “Do not get angry,” said Saangi’s voice. “Anger leads to mistakes.”

  I jumped back to my feet. It was two-on-one. A minute before, I was happily dreaming about Cloral. Now my adrenaline was spiked as I vainly tried to defend myself against these aggressive ghosts.

  “How do I win this game?” I asked.

  “The spikes bring reward,” Loor said from nowhere.

  “Spikes? What spikes?”

  Whap. I got hit again. They were using open hands, so I wasn’t getting hurt, but it stung getting slapped around like this. I spun around, hands out, hoping to hit something. Anything. All I got was air.

  “Control, Pendragon,” Alder said calmly…just before he hit me in the gut.

  Great. Three-on-one. The whole gang was there, taking shots. I was breathing hard and sweating-and already tired.

  “Conserve your energy,” Loor said, as if she could read my mind.

  Smack. Smack. Hands came out of nowhere, hitting me quickly and then disappearing. I glanced up to the sky.

  “The sun will not be up for a while,” Saangi said.

  How did she know what I was thinking?

  “You can hear us,” Loor said softly. “You can smell us. You can feel the heat of our bodies.”

  Smack. Whack. Whap. No, I couldn’t. Anger gave way to frustration.

  “This is stupid,” I shouted, and immediately got hit with a barrage of shots that spun me around. “Feel us,” Alder said.

  I took a breath. I tried to sense where they might be. I couldn’t. Instead I got hit with so many shots that I was nearly rocked off my feet.

  “Stop!” I shouted. “You want me back in the hospital?”

  There was no answer. No instruction. No comment.

  “Time-out, okay?” No answer.

  “C’mon, this is dumb.”

  Nobody responded.

  “Loor? Get serious, all right?”

  Still no answer. I still couldn’t see a thing. I took a few steps and walked into a wall. Ow! I backed off and fell on my butt.

  “This sucks!” I shouted in frustration. I knew they weren’t going to hur
t me, at least not seriously, but still. Their smacks stung! And not knowing when or where they would come from made it even worse. I couldn’t defend myself. I couldn’t fight back. I felt totally helpless. And tired. And sore. And angry. I had no idea what this had to do with training as a warrior, but one thing was pretty clear: I was at their mercy, and they weren’t going to stop just because I complained.

  A quick glance at the horizon showed me that the dark sky was growing lighter. I willed the sun to hurry up so I could see what was going on. I figured that once I could see, at least I’d have a chance to defend myself. I didn’t risk standing up again because I was still disoriented. I got on my knees and crawled with my arm out to feel for the wall I had introduced my head to. I felt the rough stone, put my shoulder to it, and cautiously crawled away. I figured if they wanted to smack me around, they were going to have to find me. After crawling a few yards, I came to a doorway. I quickly rolled inside and sat with my back to the wall to catch my breath and wait for light.

  I kept glancing out toward the dark compound. My heart raced because I didn’t know if another attack would come, or from where. It was torture! I had to force myself to control my breathing. And listen. If I couldn’t see them, I thought maybe I could hear them coming. But the only sound I heard was the distant wail of the desert wind. Eventually I started making out shapes in the Mooraj compound. Light was coming, and with it, relief. I no longer cared that daytime would bring burning heat. Heat was fine, so long as I could see.

  A few minutes later it got light enough that I could see something odd in the middle of the compound. A structure had been erected that wasn’t there yesterday. There were three sticks, each about six feet long, forming a tepee. Hanging down in the middle of this frame was a small, black bag that I recognized as a canteen. A canteen! Water! I suddenly realized how thirsty I was. I wanted that water. Loor said the spikes brought reward. Were these the spikes? I didn’t care. I was too thirsty to care. Without thinking another second, I got to my feet and sprinted for the center of the compound. My eyes were locked on the canteen. My only thought was to get a drink. I was nearly there. I could taste the water. I never thought that this could be a trap. I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly. One second I was sprinting for the tepee, the next second I tripped and did a full-on face-plant into the sand. Ouch. I looked back to see that another long stick had been tossed in front of me. That’s why my feet got tangled and I ate sand.

  Looking up, I saw Loor standing over me, holding still another one of those long sticks. “You have not earned that water,” she said coldly.

  “This is stupid!” I shouted angrily. “What are you trying to do, kill me?”

  Loor stood there, staring at me, holding her long stick like a weapon. I realized that these thin sticks were the exact same size as the wooden weapons the Ghee used, but they were thin and hollow, like bamboo. I also saw that strapped to her elbows and her knees were red, wooden sticks. Spikes.

  They were around an inch thick and stuck out about six inches. I remembered seeing these before. When Spader and I came to Zadaa, we saw the Ghee warriors playing a game that was like capture the flag. All the warriors wore these wooden spikes. Instead of beating each other up, the idea was to knock off their opponents spikes, sort of like in flag football. If you lost all your spikes, you were “dead” and had to leave the game.

  “Oh, I get it,” I said snottily. “I’m supposed to knock off those spikes to get water? Forget it. I don’t want to play this game. I asked you to train me to be a warrior, not put me through some kind of initiation.”

  I moved to get up, but Loor poked me in the chest, knocking me back down.

  “Stop it!” I shouted. “I’m done, all right!”

  “I cannot give you physical strength, Pendragon,” Loor said coldly. “Nor can I give you the skills to fight in the short time we have. Our only hope is to train you to think as a warrior, and to act without thinking.”

  “What?” I shot back. “That’s nothing!”

  “No,” she said quickly. “It is everything. You have the courage. You have the wisdom. You are agile and quick to react. Those tools are far more useful than physical strength. But they must be developed.”

  “All I wanted was to learn how to use a weapon,” I complained.

  Loor tossed her stick aside and said, “Very well. Take one of my spikes and the water is yours.”

  I slowly got to my feet. Loor was now weaponless, but I wasn’t dumb enough to think she couldn’t still kick my butt. This wasn’t going to be a fight-it was about my grabbing one of those red spikes. How tough could it be? I approached her cautiously. She turned so that she no longer faced me head-on, but was leading with her right shoulder and hip. The wooden spikes now pointed at me, teasingly close. All I had to do was reach out and grab one. I quickly grabbed for her shoulder, but it was a fake and I went for the spike on her knee.

  She didn’t go for the fake and flicked my hand away as easily as if she were batting away a mosquito. I grabbed at her elbow, she shifted slightly and pushed me forward, nearly knocking me off my feet. I got mad. I dove to the ground, rolled and reached for the spike on her knee. She sidestepped. I didn’t come close. I jumped back up and went straight for her, grabbing furiously. She calmly batted me away again and again. And again. It was embarrassing. I felt like a little kid trying to get my hat back from the school bully. Finally, in frustration, I swept the thin bamboo weapon off the ground and swung it at her. I didn’t want to hit her, I just wanted her to knock it away so I could go in and grab one of the spikes. I swung, she stepped aside, grabbed the other end, and yanked it down so hard it pulled me off my feet. I let go, but not before being dragged to my knees, out of breath and exhausted.

  Loor hadn’t even broken a sweat. She leaned down to me and said, “Never make the first move.”

  “Okay, I get your point,” I said. “Now can I have some water?”

  Loor walked over to the tepee of sticks and yanked down the black canteen. “When you earn it,” she said, and left me kneeling there, beaten.

  The worst part was, my ordeal was only beginning.

  JOURNAL #21

  (CONTINUED)

  ZADAA

  Twoweeks. That’s how long I’m guessing we spent at the Mooraj camp. It felt like two decades. It was the most grueling experience of my life, worsethan the time I spent in that gar prison on Eelong. There was no rest. Ever. The cruel game was on 24/7-or whatever measure they use to figure time here on Zadaa.

  At first the only thing that kept me going was my anger at Loor and Alder and Saangi for the torture they were putting me through. They were relentless. I soon realized why Loor needed Alder’s help. They took turns working me over. When they weren’t making my life miserable, they were resting up to do it all over again. I didn’t have that luxury. I stole sleep where I could, but it wasn’t all that restful because I was never sure if one of them would pop up and start working me over again. That’s how intense it was. I felt incredibly alone. The only time anyone spoke to me was when they were giving me instructions. There were no time-outs. We didn’t hang around at the end of a long day and compare notes over cold drinks. I was on my own.

  For me it was all about winning water, and food. If I didn’t earn it, I didn’t drink. Or eat. Starvation is a pretty good motivator. It sure makes you focus. Much of each day I spent wandering around Mooraj, looking for where they kept the food. I never found it. The others would be hiding, watching, and planning their next move. Without warning one of them would leap in front of me, and a training battle would follow.

  Next up was Alder. He, too, used the hollow bamboo pole rather than the more dangerous, wooden weapon. I guess I should be grateful for something. I had my own pole, taken from the tepee that once held the canteen of water Loor wouldn’t let me have.

  “Do not face me square-on,” Alder coached. “A smaller target is harder to hit.”

  I attacked, swinging my pole at him. He knocked me away easily,
then cracked me on the back of the head.

  “You’re a pretty big target,” I said. “Why can’t I hit you?”

  “Because you are trying,” Alder answered.

  “Don’t give me that Yoda garbage,” I said. “Tell me what to do.”

  “Relax,” Alder instructed. “If you are tense, you will make mistakes. Above all, never make the first move.”

  “Relax? In a fight?” I lunged at him with the stick straight out like a sword. He easily knocked me away, spun, hit me on the shoulders and then spun back and hit my shins. I felt like I was fighting a swarm of bees. Alder wore the four red spikes, just like Loor. I desperately needed to knock one of them off to get water, but I might as well have been swinging with my eyes closed. I had no chance. What was so amazing was that I was using all my energy to get nowhere, and he was barely moving. After knocking me to my knees one last time, I looked up to see that Alder was gone.

  “What’s the matter?” I yelled to nobody. “Had enough?”

  I got no answer. I didn’t know if I was learning anything, but I was definitely losing gas and growing a few dozen black-and-blue marks. My throat felt like sandpaper. I was dizzy with hunger. I needed to score one of those spikes or I wouldn’t make it. I got my chance when Saangi appeared on the far side of the compound. She stood holding the black canteen. I didn’t want to look too desperate, even though I was. I walked toward her, but slowly. I got about twenty yards away when she held up her hand.

  I stopped and called out, “Is it your turn now?”

  “I’m here to give you this,” she called back, and held up the black canteen.

  I could have kissed her, but realized it was probably too good to be true. “What do I have to do for it?” I asked suspiciously.

  “Come and get it,” Saangi said calmly. “Be sure to watch where you step.”