Chapter Three

It was a tranquil scene. Tons of rock, stone, and earth lay still on the bodies of Visorak, Toa Hordika, and Rahaga. Visorak feet stuck out, the legs crushed underneath badly twisted and broken. Whenua’s head was all that was visible under a massive stone slab. Nuju was sprawled on his stomach beneath another, his breaths small and weak. Not far from them lay the Rahaga, also buried, with tons of rubble miraculously suspended mere moments from crushing them forever.

A few moments ago, this chamber was the scene of a furious battle between the Toa Hordika, their Rahaga allies, and the Visorak.

Now, in the aftermath of that disastrous struggle, it was quiet as the grave.

Battered into unconsciousness by the rubble, Kualus slept and dreamed. He dreamed of a time long ago, before he and his friends were Rahaga… when they, too, were mighty Toa… and of a tale told many times since then.

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“Do you think they’re still alive under there?”

“Stand back. I’ll melt the rock and free them.”

A large piece of rubble was pulled away. Onewa’s head appeared over the opening. “You mean you’ll frythem,” he retorted. “You used to use your head for something other than hanging a mask on.”

Another piece that had been pulled away was quickly dropped. Vakama leaned close to his brother. “Keep it up, Onewa… and you won’t have a head,” he hissed.

Onewa peered through the hole they made where the Toa of Ice was stirring. “Nuju? Are you alright?” He shoved a large mound to the side and helped Nuju to his feet.

Nuju put a hand on his head, which was still ringing from the clatter. “I will be, if you two would keep it down to a Tahtorak roar,” he grumbled. Behind him, Whenua and Bomonga were stirring and recovering as well, while Vakama dug out Kualus. “Where are the others?” Nuju asked.

Onewa laughed. “Oh, you know Matau and Nokama… they always find a way to keep busy.”

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“This is absolutely the last time I listen to one of your ideas, Matau,” Nokama said pointedly, almost losing her grip.

“You said that after the last idea,” Matau replied.

Nokama looked down to the ground 150 feet below them. She looked up to the squad of Vohtarak crawling down the webs toward them. She looked at Matau, who, like she, was dangling in space, hanging from a single thread.

“This time I mean it.”

The Visorak chittered and screeched in excitement.

“Let’s get out of here before they start drooling,” Nokama added. “I hate it when they drool.”

Matau wavered like a pendulum in the high winds. “Alright, then—let go of the web.”

Releasing the web with one hand, he swung toward her, reaching for her. “Are you crazy!?” Nokama exclaimed, jerking away from him.

Matau grinned, swinging toward her like a mad Brakas, “Let’s see… I’m half-Rahi… I quick-dodge Visorak all day… and I’m about to plunge to sure-certain death…” Nokama tried swinging away, but he advanced too quickly. “So the answer’s yes.”

Matau grabbed her arm, then dropped from the web like a rock. “What are you—aaaaaahhh!” Nokama screamed. The two Toa plummeted away from the Visorak, to the hard ground far below.

The Toa Hordika of Air released her, focusing instead on where they were falling. “Hit right, or you’ll make a nasty-mess,” he instructed.

Nokama had closed her eyes. “Hit? Hit what?” she gasped, breathless.

Matau pulled her close so they both fell precisely where he wanted them to. “This!” he shouted, right as they struck another thick web suspended above the city. The web was fresh, miraculously stretching under their weight, but not breaking. Their fall was slowed, then reversed, as they shot back up into the sky.

Matau laughed, exhilarated. “I hate Visorak… but I love this!” he exclaimed, whooping through the air. He and Nokama shot up, straight past their Visorak pursuers.

Nokama could barely speak, but she managed to find words as their momentum started to die. “Um, Matau? Once we stop going up, don’t we start going down again?”

“Not with all these webs to grab hold of,” Matau said, catching one of the many strings that covered the city. Nokama followed his lead, grasping at one that intersected with his. “That was fun,” Matau laughed. “Let’s do it again!”

Nokama smiled to see some of Matau’s old character showing through his Hordika side. “Don’t forget why we’re here. Onewa wants us to scout the defenses around the Coliseum so we can get in and rescue the Matoran.”

Matau flipped up and caught the webbing with his feet, hanging upside down. “So? We came, we scouted, we all-conquered! Nothing can keep us away from the Coliseum.”

Nokama glanced down the street over which their web string extended. “Well, nothing… except that,” she said.

Matau craned his neck to see as he hung by his feet. Dominating the subdivision was a fearsome watch tower, one of the many used by the Visorak to monitor the city and built of debris and webbing. This particular structure was a critical point in the Visorak’s defensive lines, serving as the sole guard post on that approach to the Coliseum. With their airship supplies gathered, the time had come to storm the Coliseum, and Vakama and Onewa had decided that seizing this tower would be the first phase of the attack.

Planning was one thing. Executing was another. The Visorak Gate was crawling with spiders moving up and down its sturdy walls.

The sight gave Nokama shivers.

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“Visorak quick-built those towers all over the city,” Matau remarked as he and Nokama ran stealthily down the street. “We captured one before, we can do it again. That’s the problem with you water types. All that swimming makes your spines soggy.”

“You must be half ‘very optimistic Rahi’, Matau,” Nokama frowned. “Last time we had six Toa Hordika, plus a shapeshifter and a 40-foot high Tahtorak helping us.”

As they neared some alleys on the outskirts of the tower, Matau peered around the corner to see a lone Visorak on patrol. He nudged Nokama with his elbow. “See? Only one lonely-little Visorak guarding the way. Watch this!”

Nokama didn’t have time to respond before he ran headlong at the creature. “Beware, Visorak!” Matau proclaimed. “Ugly and angry Toa-hero coming for you to—”

Matau skidded to a stop as the Visorak rounded a corner… along with a dozen other guards. “…to… um… never mind.”

Nokama charged a Rhotuka spinner, “I can’t take you anywhere, Matau…” Her spinner struck them like a jet of water, blowing them back. “That’s the problem with you air-types—there’s too much of it between your ears.”

Matau, also wet from being close to the spinner’s activation, raised an arm and sniffed it. “Plus we’ll never get the smell out of my armor…” he said sheepishly.

“That, too,” Nokama agreed.

As the Visorak lay unmoving in the water, Nokama grabbed Matau and the two made a quick escape up two stories and to an opposite building. Nokama crouched and peered down the street at the giant Visorak structure. Beyond it, she could see the Coliseum in all its glory. That, too, was crawling with Visorak. She could even see its entrance from where she was, a giant Hau fashioned in the symbol of the Great Spirit.

Matau, meanwhile, was looking in the opposite direction up the street. “What is that? It looks like a ram for battering down walls.”

Nokama followed his gaze. “Well, it could be the worst news we’ve had today…” She smiled. “Or it may be the answer to all our problems.”

A battering ram the size of a building was being slowly pulled along by Visorak. Over a dozen spiders stood staggered in front of the large and obviously heavy contraption, straining at the chains wrapped around them. Rather than be dragged along the ground, the ram had four large legs of its own, which served both to support it off the ground and move mechanically as the Visorak pulled the machine along. Two long and incredibly pointed spears faced forward over the legs’ attachments to the main housing, and the entire frame sported its own miniature catapult on top.

But the biggest feature, the whole point of the assembly, was the battering ram housed in the center of the frame. A giant golden metal bore the shape of a Visorak carapace, which would slide back and forth to down any door or barricade in times of war and conquest. In fact, the whole thing looked like a giant Visorak. The hordelings pulling the weapon seemed intent on bringing it to the gateway.

Nokama jumped out the window, landing quietly. “Come on!” she encouraged Matau, who followed. “We’re hitching a ride!” The two Toa snuck to the unguarded rear of the battering ram and dove onto their bellies, crawling as fast as they could. They outraced the slow-moving structure and pulled themselves onto the bottom of the main frame.

“What if they try to ram something while we’re under here?” Matau whispered, trying to find the right supports he could grab to stay off the ground and hidden.

“Then we will have a much faster—and shorter—trip,” Nokama replied.

Unaware of the two stowaways beneath the battle ram, the Visorak pulled the mighty siege engine inside their guard tower. Moreover, it seemed they had done so undetected, as the gate behind them fell shut with a loud clang. The battle ram stopped moving, and the sounds of Visorak dropping their chains signified that the journey was at an end.

Nokama dropped from the frame and crawled to the edge, peering out from under. “We’ve stopped!” she confirmed. “We made it inside!”

Matau crawled beside her. “Yes, and they just shut the gate—so we won’t be going back outside any time soon.”

“We lost a Kahgarak… the Toa Hordika and Rahaga have eluded capture again… and Sidorak says I shouldn’t worry!?” a female voice roared.

The two Toa exchanged glances, realizing that there must have recently been a battle between the Visorak and the other four Toa Hordika and Rahaga. The female’s voice was one they’d never heard before, but it carried authority and dominance. The two Toa crawled to another side of the battle ram for a better look. The figure in question was tall with black and silver armor and was holding a helpless Vohtarak aloft with one hand.

“Well, take heart,” she sneered, “do you know the old saying about bad news: ‘don’t kill the messenger?’”

The Visorak froze for just a moment, thinking for a second it might live.

“Too bad—I always kill the messenger.”

The viceroy’s grip tightened, her claws effortlessly ending the life of the Visorak. She dropped it to the ground where she crushed it beneath her armored heel.

The Toa looked at each other. Though they had never seen this person before, her reputation was well-known to them by the words of the Rahaga. This, then, was the one who had mutated them.

Roodaka.

The viceroy gave a look of disgust at the messenger. She turned to the battle ram before looking at the Visorak that had accompanied the large battering ram. “So this is the latest addition to our legions? How many do we have now, a dozen? A hundred?” She smiled. “Soon, they will overrun this city, smashing every possible Hordika hiding place into rubble!”

Nokama looked at Matau, “It’s worse than we feared! We have to warn the others somehow,” she muttered loudly.

Above them, Roodaka whirled, looking to the base of the frame where the Toa were hidden. “Wait a moment, what is this?” she muttered.

She knelt down to examine the edge of the battle ram. She ran her fingers over the supports, her eyes narrowing.

“There is something here that should not be. And it must be taken care of immediately!”

Matau clenched his eyes. He pulled his tools close to himself, ready to make a run for it.

Roodaka straightened and looked at the lead Vohtarak. “A portion of this ram is damaged, no doubt due to your clumsiness,” she scowled, pointing out a fracture in the metal frame by the ground.

Both Toa exhaled softly.

“Well, you know what has to be done,” Roodaka continued. “Drag this machine into the furnace and burn it! Now!”