“Don’t worry. It’s pretty safe inside Leeandra,” Boon said without slowing down. “There are guards everywhere. We won’t be in any real danger until we leave the city.”
Good. No worries…for now. Boon led me to a tall fence made of bamboo that was around ten feet high. There was an opening with two klees standing guard. Boon ran up to one and said breathlessly, “I need a zenzen.”
The guard answered, “What’s your rush? The wippen tournament is over.”
“And those guys from the north made us look bad,” Boon said, thinking fast. “I want the extra practice.”
The guard stepped aside and said, “Good! They aren’t better than us, they just train more.”
“Exactly!” Boon replied. “Watch my gar, would you?”
That was me. Boon ran inside the gate, leaving me alone. I stood in front of the two guards, feeling all sorts of vulnerable. I almost whistled casually, but figured that would have been a little suspicious. I looked to the ground but still felt their eyes on me. I really hoped they weren’t hungry.
“What is that smell?” one klee asked the other in disgust.
“The gar,” the other guard snarled. “Filthy animal. Don’t they ever clean themselves?”
The first klee walked up to me. I could feel his breath, but didn’t dare look up.
“Nice shoes,” the klee said. “My hunting gar could use those.”
“So get him a pair like that,” the second guard said.
“I didn’t say he could use a pairlikethat,” the first guard corrected. “I said he could usethosel”
Before I knew what was happening, the klee grabbed me around the neck, choking me.
“Take them!” he ordered the second klee.
The other guard quickly yanked off my shoes. I didn’t fight. There were bigger problems to deal with than losing a pair of torn-up cloth shoes. Besides, I didn’t want them to bite me. A few long seconds later, I heard the sound of hoofs. The klee guard let go of me and I gasped for breath. I saw Boon trotting up on the back of an incredibly strange-looking horse. I now realized that this tall fence was actually a corral. The animal Boon called a “zenzen” was dark orange, and sort of looked like a regular old Second Earth horse, except that it had impossibly long legs. That’s because each leg had an extra joint. I’m serious. Imagine a horse leg, then add a whole ‘nother section that was about two feet long, complete with an extra joint, and you’d have what they called a zenzen. It moved strangely, like a spider. But it was definitely a horse.
“C’mon, gar!” Boon shouted to me, as if he were calling a dog. “Good boy, let’s go!”
I was totally humiliated, but had to play along. I walked over to the zenzen and looked up at Boon. It’s tough enough climbing up onto a regular old horse, but this thing was another few feet higher. Boon reached down and held out his paw.
“C’mon boy, grab on,” Boon commanded.
I gave him a dirty look and reached with my hand. Boon grabbed it and pulled me up like a doll. Man, he was strong. He plunked me down in back of him, just behind the saddle.
“Not bad!” one of the klee guards said. “You got that one trained pretty good!”
“But you gotta wash him down,” the other said. “He stinks.”
“And get him some shoes!” the first guard added with an obnoxious chuckle.
I whispered to Boon, “The stink comments are getting old.”
“Sorry,” Boon whispered. He then let out a “Yah!” while snapping the reins. I grabbed on to his tunic and we bolted forward and ran faster than I thought any horse could run. That extra length of leg must have acted like a turbocharger, because in no time we were flying. We blasted along the jungle floor, beneath the buildings of Leeandra. Very soon we came upon a wall made of bamboo that looked like the fence around the corral. Only this wall towered fifty feet into the air.
I now realized that Leeandra was built like a fort, with a wall ringing it to keep out the tangs. “The gate!” Boon yelled ahead.
I looked over his shoulder to see a few klee guards move to open a huge, swinging door. Boon didn’t slow down. The guards must have realized he wasn’t going to stop, because they scrambled to get the door open. They swung it wide, just in time, as Boon and I galloped out of the safety of Leeandra and into the badlands.
Boon knew how to ride. We charged along the narrow, jungle path as if we were out in the great wide open. Fast was scary, but good. We not only had to beat Saint Dane to the flume, I figured as long as we were flying along, it would be tough for a tang to attack. Still, Boon wasn’t taking any chances. Attached to the saddle was one of those long wooden weapons. Once we were out of the city, Boon held the reins with one paw, and grabbed the weapon with the other. He held it forward, ready, in case a hungry tang decided to get in our way.
Now that we were moving, my thoughts turned to what I would do once we caught up with Saint Dane. I was really worried about you guys. Saint Dane’s comment about it being your turn, and your having new powers, didn’t make sense. The only thing I knew for sure was that it couldn’t be good. Saint Dane wouldn’t be dropping in on you guys just to say howdy do. And he mentioned Gunny. I felt certain that Gunny was still alive, but where was he? I didn’t want to leave Eelong without finding him, but knowing that Saint Dane was coming after you guys was more important. I had to get to you first.
The mad gallop through the forest was uneventful. Not a single tang showed up. After a few minutes I saw that the stone in my ring was starting to glow. We were getting close to the gate. Boon rode us right back to the giant tree that held the flume and pulled up at the small entrance I had first come through. I had no idea if we had beaten Saint Dane there or not.
“Find Seegen,” I said to Boon while climbing down from the zenzen. “He must know where Gunny is.”
“No,” Boon protested. “I’m coming with you.”
“You can’t,” I shot back. “Only Travelers can use the flume.”
“What about acolytes?” Boon asked.
“You’re not an acolyte yet,” I shot back. “And even if you were, acolytes can’t use the flume. It doesn’t work that way.” I stopped short, my mind racing. My own words rang in my ears:”It doesn’t work that way.”Saint Dane had said that the rules were changing, and the walls between the territories were breaking down. Could that be the “new powers” he was talking about? Was it possible that acolytes could now activate the flume?
“Pendragon?” Boon called to me. “What are you thinking?”
“Find Seegen,” I said again. “I’ll get back as soon as I can.” I had turned for the gate when Boon yelled, “Pendragon!” I looked back and Boon tossed me his wooden weapon. “Quigs” was all he said.
I caught the heavy stick and felt its weight. It was like a long baseball bat. I had no idea how to use it against one of those human quigs, but it was better having it than not. I nodded to Boon, then dove down to the hole in the tree. I knew the way. I crawled through the narrow tunnel that was choked with vines and found the hole in the floor that led down to the flume cavern. While holding the weapon in front of me, I climbed down the root stairs, stepped over the pile of gar bones, and found myself standing in the grand underground cavern that held the flume. A quick look to the ground showed me the arrow I had scratched into the dirt. So far so good.
I didn’t know if I was ahead of Saint Dane, or if he had already gone to Second Earth. Either way I didn’t want to waste time, so I didn’t change out of my Eelong rags. I put the wooden weapon down on the flat rock next to my jumpsuit from Veelox and dove through the curtain of roots that hid the flume.
When I reached the tunnel, I saw something I hadn’t expected. There was a light glowing far in the distance, as if I had already activated the flume. But it didn’t grow closer to me, nor did it disappear into the distance. It just sort of hung there as if the flume had been half activated. I didn’t know what it meant, but I couldn’t spend any time trying to figure it out.
“Second Earth!” I shouted into the tunnel.
The light came for me. A moment later I was pulled in and on my way home. But this was like no other trip I had taken back to Second Earth. Every time I had traveled home, it was always with a feeling like I was going somewhere safe and sane. This time I feared what I would find…and I wasn’t disappointed. The voyage through the flume was eerily similar to the trip I had taken from Veelox to Eelong. I once again saw transparent images floating in space. This time I saw what looked to be giant chess pieces. There were also beautiful clear blue crystals spinning by that looked like glaze, the precious ore from Denduron. It felt like the star field was teeming with ghosts from all the different territories. I wondered if this had something to do with what Saint Dane had said about the walls between the territories crumbling.
You guys already know what happened when I arrived on Second Earth. When I saw you at the mouth of the flume, I realized I was too late. You looked all sorts of scared, which meant Saint Dane had already been there. I was relieved that you two were okay, but still worried about what it all meant. I’m sorry if I was rough with you
