in. That’s all. We can’t start using whatever we want from other territories.”
“I–Ihear you, Spader,” Mark said nervously. “B-But it’s going to be dangerous. We might not make it out of the flume tree alive.”
“If we don’t,” Spader said, “then that was the way it was meant to be. We’ll have to take our chances. Still want to go?”
Mark looked at Courtney. He had been having second thoughts about this trip all along. Now he was having third and fourth thoughts.
“Absolutely,” Courtney answered with confidence.
“Mark?” Spader asked.
Mark took a breath, then said, “Yeah.”
Spader said to Yenza, “Please send a message to Yorn through your ring. He’s the acolyte from Eelong. Tell him that Saint Dane brought a poison to Eelong from Cloral and we’re coming with the antidote. He’s got to get that message to Pendragon so we can join up with him.”
“Understood,” Yenza said. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come?”
“No, I’m not at all sure,” Spader answered. “But we’ve already got two acolytes traveling. If it turns out to be wrong, I don’t want to risk sending another.”
“It’s not wrong,” Courtney said defensively.
Spader replied by picking up his water sled. “We’ll soon find out. Ready?”
They all grabbed their air globes and placed them over their heads.
“Good luck!” Yenza called to them as Spader and Courtney leaped into the water.
“Thank you,” Mark said to Yenza. He sat on the rail of the speeder, twisted his legs over the side, and gently slipped into the warm water of Cloral. The three floated together next to the boat.
“Same as before,” Spader instructed. “Grab my belt.”
He ducked below the surface, followed by Mark and Courtney. They each grabbed on to his belt, and with the help of his powerful water sled, Spader pulled the trio down underwater toward the gate to the flume. Yenza had positioned the speeder right above the rock ledge, so in no time the three shot underneath. Minutes later they surfaced in the cavern that held the flume. Without a word they pulled themselves up onto the rocky ledge and got rid of their air globes and swim belts.
“We’ll wear these clothes in the flume,” Spader said. “Then find clothes from Eelong when we arrive.”
“It’s going to be tough explaining to the klees what these tanks are,” Mark said.
“It’s going to be impossible,” Spader shot back. “Let’s hope we won’t have to.” He slipped back into the water and called out,”Eelong!” Theflume overhead sprang to life. As the light and the musical notes grew closer, Spader looked to Courtney and said, “I sure hope you’re right about this. See you on the other side.”
The bright light flashed out of the flume and shot down toward Spader. Mark and Courtney had to squint to see what was happening, and caught a glimpse of Spader being lifted out of the water. A second later the light flashed so brightly that it blinded them. When it disappeared, Spader was gone. All they could hear was the faint sound of the musical notes fading into the depths of the flume. The two stood there, nervously waiting for the other to go first.
“You realize we could die on Eelong,” Mark said soberly.
“Nice,” Courtney said. “Real positive attitude you got there.”
“I’m serious,” Mark complained. “Are we ready for this?”
Courtney answered by slipping into the water. “Yes,” she said. “You’re not going to bail on me just when it’s getting interesting, are you?”
“This is a lot of things,” Mark said as he dropped into the water. “‘Interesting’ doesn’t begin to cover it.”
“Eelong!”Courtney shouted.
Instantly the flume groaned. They could hear the rock walls crack and grind as if an earthquake were shaking it. Mark and Courtney looked up in wonder.
“It didn’t do that when Spader left,” Mark said nervously.
Two rocks fell out of the flume, bounded down the side of the cavern and splashed into the water. Mark and Courtney had to swim out of the way or they would have been creamed.
“This isn’t right,” Mark gasped.
“Too late now,” Courtney shouted back as the musical notes grew loud. More rocks fell, splashing down in the water. The light from the flume circled them both and they could feel themselves being lifted up and out of the pool. A moment later they were whisked into the flume and sent on their way to Eelong.
As they flew, they quickly forgot about the unusual damage that happened to the flume. The anticipation of what was to come was far more exciting, and scary. As with their first flume trip, they saw strange images floating in the star field that surrounded the crystal tunnel. There was a giant castle that looked as if it were built into a mountainside, a silver, cigar-shaped zeppelin that could very well have been theHindenburg, and what looked like legions of tall soldiers, marching together in perfect formation, headed for some unknown war. Mark and Courtney had no idea what any of it meant. They didn’t have much time to discuss it anyway, because they soon felt the tug of gravity that meant they were arriving on Eelong. Seconds later they were on their feet…and enveloped by the curtain of vines. Each went a different way and quickly got lost in the tangle.
“Ahhhl” shouted Mark in terror as he slashed with his arms to keep them away. “Courtney!”
“Mark!” Courtney called back from somewhere. “It’s cool. They’re roots, remember? Bobby wrote about them.”
Mark stopped struggling. “Right, roots,” he said, embarrassed. He felt a strong hand grab his arm and relaxed. He wasn’t alone anymore. “Oh man,” he panted. “How do we get out of-“
As the hanging vegetation parted, he saw that the hand didn’t belong to Courtney. Holding on to his wrist was a yellow-eyed, sharp-toothed, semihuman quig. The two stared at each other, waiting to see what the other was going to do. Mark reacted first.
“Quig!” he shouted and tried to pull away. But the quig held him tight. Mark fell backward into the vines as the quig pounced on his chest. The beast looked down on him, baring his teeth in a hideous smile. It lunged for Mark’s throat. Mark threw his hands up to protect himself, and the quig bit into his forearm. “Ahhh!” Mark screamed in pain. Mark wasn’t a fighter. Not even close. But the pain kicked him into action. He whacked the quig on the side of the head with his free hand, knocking the little beast away. But not for long. The quig scrambled to his knees, ready to pounce again. Mark was on his butt, backing away on all fours.
“Courtney!” he shouted. “Help!”
The quig sprang, but before it got to Mark, a vine shot out and wrapped around its neck, holding it back. The quig let out a surprised yelp and tore at the noose. At first, Mark thought the vine had come to life and attacked the quig, but a second later he saw the real reason. Spader was clutching the two ends of the vine, holding the monster quig tight.
“Nasty little woggly,” Spader said with way more calm than the situation deserved. “I think you should apologize to my friend.”
The quig tore at the vine, cutting it in two, allowing it to escape. It took off through the root forest and disappeared. A second later, the vines behind Mark rustled.
“There’s more of ‘em!” he shouted, and backed toward Spader.
The roots parted to reveal…Courtney. “What happened? You all right?” she asked. “No!” Mark shouted.
Spader looked at Mark’s arm to see the damage. “It’s not bad,” he said. “Just a scratch.”
“Easy for you to say,” Mark shot back. “That thing better not have rabies!”
“Can we please get out of this jungle?” Courtney asked.
The three stayed close together and pushed their way toward the cavern that Bobby had described in his journal. Courtney emerged from the tangle first, took one look, and said, “Oh man!”
Mark and Spader came out right behind her. Mark had the same reaction, “Oh man!”
“Hobey,” Spader said. “I guess it’s true.”
Standing on all fours next to the flat rock in the center of the cavern was a big, brown jungle cat.
“Are you all right?” the cat asked. “I didn’t know the quig was in there. Sorry. That wasn’t a very good welcome to Eelong.”
They stared back at the animal numbly. Though Mark and Courtney had already met Seegen, seeing a talking predator cat was still pretty strange. And Spader had never seen any kind of cat before, civilized or not.
