Chapter Nine

It took the Mahri a long time to make it from Artidax back to Metru Nui. Jaller’s first thought upon arriving was that it had been way too long. Metru Nui was under attack. At first, he thought that was Metru Nui; it was surrounded by high walls with weapons mounted atop them, weapons belching fire and smoke at the attackers. The walls were manned by warriors of all sorts, none of which Jaller recognized. Wait, check that. The berserker battling three opponents at once looked a lot like Hewkii.

“What’s going on?” said Nuparu. “Looks like we’ve walked into a full-scale war.”

“It’s been going on for a while,” said Hahli. “But I think it’s come home.”

It was an awesome sight. Ships flying the banner of the Brotherhood of Makuta ringed the island city; flying Rahkshi were assaulting from every direction, firing bolts of energy from their staffs while others pounded on the walls. In one section, a portion of the wall had already crumbled, and warriors fought in the gap, trying to keep the invaders out.

“They’re breaking through!” shouted Nuparu.

“Let’s go,” said Jaller. “We stand or fall with our city.”

The three Toa hit the gap from behind, using fire, water, and earth to tear through the ranks of Rahkshi. They made it through the wall of the city. Beyond the ranks of Order of Mata Nui agents, they spotted a Turaga manning barricades.

Jaller rushed up to Vakama. “Turaga, what’s happening? How did this battle begin?”

“We can thank the Order for that,” Vakama replied. “Now our problem is how to end it before the city is destroyed.”

“The Mask of Time,” said Hahli. “Can one of us use it to, I don’t know, slow down the Rahkshi somehow?”

“I wish you could,” said Vakama, “but the mask is gone, stolen by a Dark Hunter. He made the gap in the wall you came through.”

Jaller looked around. In his days as captain of the Ta-Koro Guard, he had learned a thing or two about battle strategy. A quick glance was enough to tell him that the Order had badly underestimated the ferocity of the Makuta attack. The Rahkshi had already gained the tops of the walls in three or four places, and in one southern section, had made it inside the walls as well. As he watched, the defenders of the gap fell back, and the invaders began pouring through.

“We need an edge,” said Jaller. “Something the Rahkshi wouldn’t expect.”

“There are more Toa coming, but they won’t get here in time,” said Vakama. “But there might be one Toa here now who could help us. Listen well…”

It was Hahli who found the Toa in question, a Toa of Sonics named Krakua. When he heard Vakama’s plan, he looked at her as if she had lost her mind.”

“Let me get this straight,” he said while blasting Rahkshi with sonic beams. “Vakama wants me to cycle through multiple frequencies until I find the one that will awaken something called the Bohrok?”

“Yes,” said Hahli. “We know — well, we suspect — the signal that awakens them is sonic, but we don’t know what it is or how to trigger it. If we can awaken the ones under Metru Nui, and if the Rahkshi try to get in their way, well, it might buy us some time for something else we’re planning.”

“All right, I’ll try,” said Krakua. “No promises.”

Hahli left. Her next move was to be using her power to disturb the ocean to try to wreck the Makuta ships. But before she could do so, everything changed all around her. The stars brightened overhead, the breeze turned warm, the earth shook in a gentle tremor. She didn’t know how, but somehow she was certain: the Great Spirit had awakened.

Beyond the city walls, a storm rose, tossing the Makuta fleet about like toys. Yet that did nothing to deter the Rahkshi, who kept on coming. They had broken through the walls in four places and were rampaging through Ta-Metru. Nothing could stop them, it seemed. At least until the ground erupted in front of them and a horde of Bohrok emerged. It was not a large number, only those specimens that were asleep in the archives and the small nest below it, but it was enough.

The Rahkshi attacked immediately, and the Bohrok responded. The two sides were locked in combat, and as they fought, the Mahri and the Order agents picked off Rahkshi at will. The battle seesawed back and forth, with the Rahkshi never realizing that all the Bohrok wanted was to get to the island of Mata Nui. Had the Rahkshi just gotten out of their way, the fight would have been over.

The city slowly shook from a series of explosions. An Order agent from atop the walls yelled, “Fliers! Incoming!”

Hahli looked up to see three incredibly fast aircraft soar over the city, bank as one, and head back to where the ships waited. One slowed and dipped its wing to her, and she recognized Pohatu in the pilot’s seat. The Toa Nuva had come home.

Pohatu flew his vessel back out of the city to finish off the ships. Meanwhile, Lewa and Kopaka dove, peppering the Rahkshi with blasts of light. The sight seemed to rally the city’s defenders, who surged back toward the gaps in the walls. Led by Jaller and Hewkii, they drove the Rahkshi back.

Finally, the storm was over. The Brotherhood ships had gone to the bottom of the Silver Sea, the walls around the city had been battered down, but the rubble was littered with dead Kraata and shattered Rahkshi armor. Those of the invaders that were intact had flown away, provided they could escape the blasters of the Jetrax, Rockoh, and Axalara. Metru Nui was safe, and as the Toa Nuva confirmed, the Great Spirit had awakened. The power of the Brotherhood of Makuta was broken for all time. Turaga Dume and Turaga Vakama appeared side-by-side to announce that tomorrow would be a city-wide day of celebration in the Coliseum.

But Hahli did not feel like celebrating, even now. She could not help but remember Matoro, who had given his life that Mata Nui might live. And despite all the wounded and the dying among the defenders, she could not help but feel it had all been a little too… easy. True, there had been some unexpected help: the airships, the Bohrok, the storm. But they had faced an army of Rahkshi. Something told her they should not have won, at least not with so much of the city still intact.

She smiled. Turaga Nokama would have chided her for worrying so much. No matter how things seemed, the Great Spirit was awake for the first time in over one thousand years. Light had triumphed over darkness, hadn’t it? The Toa had achieved their destiny and saved the universe, hadn’t they? And that meant all was well again. Nothing very bad could happen now, could it?

Hahli turned to head toward Ga-Metru, humming a song Nokama had once taught her — one written long ago that spoke of hope for tomorrow. Perhaps, if not for the music, she might have heard the sound of dark laughter on the wind.