Fawfulfan's Disclaimer: The Pendragon Series is the creation of D.J. Machale.

~ Zadaa ~

"We must rest well." commanded Saangi. "We have a great battle ahead of us tomorrow."

Many weeks had passed since Saangi and her party of Batu warriors had arrived in the Xhinna village. With the exception of mothers taking care of infants, every man, woman, and child from the village had agreed to attack Xhaxhu and defeat Ravinia. It had taken far longer to return to Xhaxhu than it had to leave it, as they could not accommodate everyone with their small group of dygos. They had had to march around the Kidik Ocean, making periodic rests. Fortunately, several edible plants now grew around the great ocean, and they managed to harvest enough food to keep everyone nourished.

This was the final rest period before the battle. The gleaming pyramids and towers of Xhaxhu had appeared on the horizon.

The air was thick with tension. The Xhinna had brought along their spiked armor, a variety of menacing diamond-bladed daggers, and knuckledusters with razor-sharp edges. Nevertheless, the battle would be difficult. The dados were numerous and unfeeling.

Saangi felt as though she had only slept for minutes. The next thing she knew, the sun was rising, and it was time to attack. "It is time." she called to those people who were awake, and they hastened to wake up their sleeping comrades. Before long, the army was marching towards the distant city, prepared to fight.

Paf!

A silver arrow whizzed through the air and caught one of the Xhinna warriors in his bare chest. There was a great flash of light, and he had turned into a charred pile of ash.

The Xhinna stopped dead, utterly bewildered. None of them had ever seen anything like this before.

Paf! Paf! Paf!

Several more Xhinna were incinerated. "Charge!" yelled Saangi, and the enormous army surged forwards. The Xhinna and Batu armor blocked the energy of the arrows, but anyone who was hit on their skin was fried.

Despite the losses, the army surged on. Saangi couldn't believe their bravery. Even the children, some of whom looked no more than five, continued to press forward. She supposed that they had all fought before many times against marauding cannibals, and that today, they were motivated by the promise of a safer existence.

At last, they arrived at the wall of Xhaxhu. Several Xhinna smashed the gate open, and the army poured into the great city. As it had been when the Batu had escaped, the beautiful edifices and statues of the Batu had been covered up with a metal skin or replaced with more abstract designs, and the previously unpaved streets were covered in crushed quartz. The only difference was that no Ravinians were visible on the previously crowded streets. However, a massive force of dados was marching towards them in perfect formation, each armed with the sinister arrows. As fearsome as the Xhinna were, Saangi didn't see how they would be able to stop the dados.

She got her answer.

Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!

The Xhinna warriors in the front slung their diamond knives at the approaching foes. The hard blades punched through the dados as though they were made of butter, destroying the front few lines. The first line of Xhinna then scattered, and the second line stepped forward, hurling their knives just as the first line had done. Meanwhile, the people from the first line dashed to the side and attacked the dados from the left and right, slamming them with savage punches. Judging from the way the dados crumpled, the knuckledusters were made of diamond too.

It was an aggressive battle strategy, but the dados were beginning to fight back. A series of pafs rang through the air as the dados launched their deadly arrows. The Xhinna began to realize that their armor protected them from the arrows, and started moving their bodies to make sure the arrows made contact only with their armor. Though this tactic protected them from the effects of the arrows, the force of the impact often sent them sprawling, leaving them vulnerable to another shot. The shining streets were soon littered with fallen dados and piles of ash.

The Batu were also fighting fiercely, and it wasn't just Saangi's party. Apparently bolstered by the sight of such a strong army daring to challenge the might of Ravinia, Batu slaves were bursting out of buildings to join the fray, attacking the dados with staves and whatever makeshift weapons they could find or create. A few Rokador emerged from their houses, trying in vain to stop their slaves, but most darted back inside immediately as they saw what was happening outside.

Saangi saw Zushan and a large group of Xhinna moving towards her, mounted on horses they had clearly stolen from the Xhaxhu stables. "We are going to Mooraj to liberate the rest of your people!" he called out to her as the horses galloped past.

"Good luck!" Saangi yelled back, turning her attention to a pair of dados bearing down on her. She skillfully knocked the bows out of their hands with a sweep of her stave, and a Xhinna appeared behind the dados, finishing them off with colossal punches that burrowed deep into their mechanical chests.

An arrow whizzed through the air and bounced off of Saangi's armor, throwing her off balance and knocking her to the ground. A dado appeared from nowhere and looked down at her with lifeless doll-like eyes, taking aim with its bow. All of a sudden, a dagger burst out of the dado's chest, scattering wires and pieces of metal all over the ground. Saangi rolled away as the dado collapsed on the spot where she had been lying, and she straightened up in time to knock aside another dado that was aiming its bow at the Xhinna who had thrown the dagger.

How long the battle had gone on so far, Saangi couldn't have said. It might have been ten minutes, or three hours, or maybe two suns. It was all a blur of dados and Xhinna and arrows and daggers. She couldn't tell who had suffered the most losses, either; one moment, she would be surrounded by bow-carrying dados, the next, she would be part of a throng of yelling, charging Batu and Xhinna, sweeping aside the dados as though they weren't even there. And, despite the fact that the remains of dados, Xhinna, and Batu were piling up everywhere, the clashing armies seemed as large as ever.

However, as the battle progressed, it seemed to Saangi that the dados were getting the upper hand. As they weren't flesh and blood, they barely reacted to heavy blows that would have knocked out any human warrior. What was more, as the Batu and Xhinna began to reach the end of their strength, the dados started to overwhelm them. It seemed like only a matter of time before the warriors were overpowered by the dados.

Without warning, Saangi was hit from behind. A dado who had evidently lost its bow in the fight had punched her in the back of the head. Saangi's head was swimming so badly that she didn't even feel herself hit the ground. Through the mist clouding her eyes, Saangi saw a second dado train its bow on her. There was nothing she could do.

And then, suddenly, it was all over.

The pafs of the arrows fell silent. Moments later, so did the clangs and thumps of the Xhinna and the Batu, and an eerie silence fell. I am dead, Saangi thought dully. I am dead. That dado must have shot me. I have failed as a warrior. As an acolyte. I have failed the Travelers.

Saangi's head stopped spinning, but continued to throb painfully. She became aware that she was still lying upon the crushed quartz of the streets of Xhaxhu. Did that mean she was still alive after all?

Slowly, tentatively, Saangi raised her head and looked around. She saw hundreds of Batu and Xhinna looking around, dumbstruck. The dados had fallen to the ground as one, completely immobile. Rubbing her head gingerly, Saangi got to her feet. What had happened? Why had the dados frozen and collapsed as they had?

There was a rumble overhead. Unnoticed by the battling Batu and Xhinna, dark gray clouds had formed overhead, and a light rain was falling over the city. Then, Saangi heard footsteps. A Ravinian Rokador had emerged from his house, looking stupefied. Several more Ravinians appeared from their doors, speechless with shock. The street was suddenly swarming with as many Rokador as Batu and Xhinna. Then, one of the Ravinians sank to his knees and began to sob. Several others followed suit, and many more flung their arms around the startled Batu, shaking with horror and misery. Saangi found herself patting a moaning woman on the back, glancing at the star tattooed on her arm, as she wailed, "How has it come to this?"

The sound of galloping horses met Saangi's ears. Zushan's party had returned. Two filthy, disheveled Batu sat on each horse, clinging on to the Xhinna in front. Everyone dismounted, looking around in awe at the horrific carnage of the great battle.

Nobody voiced aloud what was to be done next. There was no need. Everyone, it seemed, had unanimously decided what the proper course of action was to be. All over the city, Rokador, Batu, and Xhinna worked together to clean up the fallen dados and remains of the dead.

Over the course of many weeks, the city of Xhaxhu began to transform. The red flags with the Ravinian stars were all torn from the tops of the great pyramids. The metal skins were removed, the crystal pavement dug up. The Rokador reused these materials to create new buildings and roads on the other side of the river running through Xhaxhu, assisted by the Xhinna. Meanwhile, the Batu set about restoring the city of Xhaxhu to its former glory.

One morning, Saangi heard a knock at her door, and opened it to find a Rokador woman standing in front of her. "You are to come to the palace." she said.

Saangi walked alongside the woman through the streets of Xhaxhu. Though the city was beginning to look more like the Xhaxhu Saangi remembered, it would take years, perhaps decades, before it returned to the way it once was.

The royal palace, for instance, was still far different than it had been before Ravinia had conquered Zadaa. The silver skin of metal covering the pyramid was gone, but the carved steps were gone, as were the ornate statues covering the structure. There was no getting around it. Saint Dane's mark still marred Zadaa.

A large table had been placed in the throne room of the palace. Seated at the table were Zushan, the former king and queen of the Batu, Khalek and Shinsha a Zinj, and Biddyko, the recently elected leader of the Rokador.

Saangi bowed to them. "How may I be of service?" she asked respectfully.

"Recent events have left the civilized tribes of the world in considerable disarray." said Khalek a Zinj slowly.

"We need someone to lead us." said Zushan. "Someone who understands the plight of the people of Zadaa...someone who will go to any lengths to see that their needs are placed before the petty desires of the privileged few."

"The royal family of Zinj has always produced the wisest and greatest of leaders." replied Saangi, inclining her head towards Khalek and Shinsha.

"Yet I fear that our tired old dynasty has lost its way." said Khalek, shaking his head wearily.

"Our inability to stand up to Ravinia speaks volumes." said Shinsha, staring at her feet in shame."

"It does not mean you are not wise." countered Saangi fiercely.

"Wise or not, we are growing old." said Khalek. "We are not the people we once were. And the heir to our throne, Pelle, is dead. The Zinj dynasty is over."

"Biddyko and I will govern our own people," said Zushan, "But we could never rule over the Batu in the way that your people deserve. Your own traditions of leadership must be preserved."

"Then who shall lead the Batu?"

"That is why we have summoned you here." said Biddyko solemnly. "We wish you to lead the Batu."

There was a long silence. Saangi stood there, her mouth agape, unable to believe what she had just heard.

"You wish...me...to take the crown?"

"You are the perfect choice for a leader." said Shinsha. "Not only are you courageous and determined to ensure the safety of your people, but you also understand the importance of the bond between the Batu and Rokador...and of the new bond with the Xhinna. We will have no one else."

Saangi trembled with shock. If only Loor could see her now! She had saved Zadaa...and been asked to govern the Batu! Saangi believed that Loor would be a far better choice for the throne...but, as she was off saving Halla...

She stepped forward solemnly. Khalek rose to his feet, removed his crown, and placed it upon Saangi's head. "I declare you Saangi a Xhinsota, Queen of the Batu."

Saangi knew that rebuilding Zadaa would be the greatest challenge of her life. But it was her responsibility now. She knew that no matter how driven the people of Zadaa were to create a better world, everything could be lost if she failed as a leader. But she would not fail. She could not. She would prove herself capable. Not just to the Batu, but to the Travelers. To Loor. To Halla.