start chowing. To say it was an uneasy feeling is a pretty big understatement.
“What is in there?” one guard asked Kasha gruffly.
“None of your concern,” Kasha answered just as sharply. She tried to move forward, but the guard stopped her.
“Stop,” he commanded. “It is our duty to inspect all items entering the city.”
“I’m a forager,” Kasha said impatiently. “I’m not governed by the same pedestrian laws as the other klees.”
From under the tarp I got a good view of the guard. He was a red-furred cat, with sharp, green eyes. Bad kitty. He stared at Kasha, as if deciding whether or not to make an issue out of it.
“You foragers are all alike,” he snarled. “You think you are above the law. Those days are past. Everyone is beholden to Ravinia. And Ravinian law says that we are empowered to inspect anything and everything that passes through these gates. If you would like to take this up with the circle, I would be more than happy to detain you until the next meeting.”
It was a standoff. Who was going to blink? An instant later I felt the tarp being pulled off me. I went into dead mode, whatever that is. I definitely held my breath. I had the fleeting thought that it was a good move to have dumped my Ravinian uniform. There was a long moment of silence. It killed me not to be able to open my eyes to see what the guards were doing.
“For my fellow foragers,” Kasha said. “Or would you rather we chose not to bring food back for the likes of you anymore?”
For a second I feared that the guy would grab my arm and take a bite. I had all I could do to keep still.
I heard the klee growl, as if trying to maintain some kind of dignity. “You are all alike,” he snarled. “Move on!”
Kasha threw the tarp back over my head, and we started moving again. We were in. Kasha and the corpse.
“Stay still,” she half whispered. “I’ll say when you can move.”
I was only too happy to play dead. The idea that we were surrounded by vicious cats, who could pounce on me and start chewing any second, was terrifying. I wondered if they were like dogs. Could they smell fear? If so, I must have smelled pretty rank. As much as I wanted to see the transformed Leeandra, I didn’t take the chance to try and peek out through the folds in the tarp.
“Where are we going?” I whispered.
“Shhh,” Kasha scolded.
I shushed. A talking corpse would arouse suspicion. And after all, cats had pretty good hearing. I tried to relax and be dead. Kasha wheeled me along for several minutes. After a few bumps we stopped, and T sensed that we were rising up, which meant we were in one of the elevators that brought klees from the ground into the village buildings that were built at all different levels in the giant trees. The elevator bumped to a stop and Kasha wheeled me off. We moved along for a few minutes more, the wheels of the cart chattering over what I figured were the wooden boards of the bridges that soared between trees. With one final bump, we stopped.
“It’s safe here,” Kasha said. “We can’t be seen.”
I cautiously pushed the tarp aside. Since I was on my back, I found myself staring up into the thick canopy of foliage. I saw that we were on a large platform built around a tree. This was exactly like the Leeandra I knew. When I stood up, I got a view of a Leeandra I didn’t.
I walked to the railing to look out over a changed city. It was still built within impossibly massive trees, but the structures themselves were totally different. Gone were the huts that were erected on sturdy limbs. Now Leeandra was a city of buildings. They were wooden buildings, but modern looking. The wood planks were obviously milled. The designs were varied. Some were round. Others soared high into the sky, rivaling the trees they were built next to. The roped walkways that had connected the trees and buildings were replaced by solid-looking bridges.
When I was there before, very few buildings were on the ground. That was a precaution against tang attacks. Now buildings were everywhere. Hundreds were still in the trees, but many rose from the jungle floor as well. Powered vehicles passed below us on wide streets. There were wooden sidewalks, traffic lights, and even giant billboards that didn’t advertise products, but instead displayed interesting works of art.
As different as it was from the Leeandra I remembered, it made total sense. This was the Eelong version of the Conclave of Ravinia on Third Earth. This was Utopia for the privileged.
Kasha said, “It is like looking into the future of my own time.”
“It is the future of your own time/’ I corrected.
“With no gars whatsoever,” she added.
With that in mind, I looked around to try and spot one. Of course klees were everywhere. Leeandra had become a busy city. I saw them walking along the streets-some on two feet, some on all four. Elevators rose on the outside of buildings, loaded with klees. Klees were even driving the powered vehicles. Not a single gar was in sight. Though they had been treated as slaves and pets, my memory of Leeandra was that there were almost as many gars as klees. They may have been on leashes, or forced into performing the worst menial labor, but they were very much a part of Leeandra. Not anymore.
I also saw several klees, dressed in the red uniform of the Ravinian guards, stationed on street corners. Ravinia was a part of life in Leeandra now. I wondered if they were living klees, or dado klees that had been built on Third Earth.
“Do not move!” came a harsh voice from behind us.
Uh-oh. We weren’t alone after all. I tensed up, ready for a fight. I looked to Kasha. She looked surprisingly relaxed. No, it was stranger than that. Kasha was smiling.
“Who are you?” the voice asked. “What are you doing in my home with that gar?”
I figured I should let Kasha handle this. After all, who would listen to a talking dinner?
“Is that any way to welcome back a tired Traveler?”
Huh? Kasha knew this guy?
“Kasha?” the voice gasped in disbelief.
Kasha turned and faced the klee.
“Hello, Boon,” she said. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you.”
The light brown klee stood there for a moment, stunned.
He then ran to Kasha and threw his paws/arms/hands/ whatever around her. The two hugged like long-lost friends, which was exactly what they were.
“I–I don’t understand,” Boon mumbled. He was in tears. “I saw you die. In that tunnel.”
Kasha glanced to me. I wondered how deep an explanation she was going to offer her friend.
“Obviously, I didn’t. I was able to escape and was nursed back to health.”
Smart move.
“Do you remember Pendragon?”
Boon looked at me and his eyes grew even wider.
“Pendragon!” he screamed, and leaped at me.
It was kind of scary. After all, klees ate us tasty gars now. But Boon wrapped his furry arms around me and gave me just as big a hug as he’d given to Kasha.
“You shouldn’t be here, Pendragon!” he exclaimed. “It’s too dangerous!”
“I know, Boon, it’s okay.”
Boon was just as full of energy and enthusiasm as I’d remembered. He pulled back from me and held me at arm’s length to size me up.
“You’ve grown,” he declared. “You are stronger.”
I shrugged. He was right.
“What about Spader and Gunny?” he asked. “I haven’t heard from them since… since…”
“Since the klees kicked out the gars?” I asked.
Boon nodded. “Yes. Are they all right? Are they still in Black Water?”
“No,” I said.
He relaxed. “That’s a good thing.” Alarms went off in my head.
“Why’s that? Has something happened to Black Water?”
