to try and ride. Boon corralled the last zenzen and held it for Mark.
“Let’s go, hurry!” he shouted.
Mark grabbed the saddle and hoisted himself up. He got his chest on top and was about to swing his leg over when a klee threw his lasso. The rope hit the zenzen in the head. The loop missed, but the surprised animal panicked and bolted…with Mark half over the saddle. The zenzen charged across the wippen field, with Mark clinging on for his life.
“Heeeelp!” he shouted as he bounced along, barely hanging on.
Spader had opened the gate to the jungle. Mark’s zenzen ran for it. The only thing that kept Mark holding on was the fear of broken bones. Gunny, Boon, and Courtney trailed behind, helpless. Mark’s zenzen charged out of the gate without slowing down. Spader kicked his zenzen forward and galloped up next to Mark.
“I’ve got you, mate,” Spader said as he maneuvered his zenzen alongside. He reached out with one hand and grabbed Mark by the back of his pants. “Hang on tight,” Spader ordered.
“Like… I… haven’t… been… already?” Mark yelled back.
Spader reined his own zenzen in, slowing them both down. The two zenzens came to a stop, but Mark didn’t let go. “I think my hands are fused to the saddle,” he said.
“Unfuse them,” Spader ordered. “We’ve got to go.”
Mark let go and slid off as the other three charged up and stopped.
“What about the weapons?” Courtney asked. “You want to go back there?” Boon asked. They all looked back at the wippen arena to see the klees running for them, pulling out arrows, ready to shoot again.
“We’ll take our chances without them,” Gunny said.
“Up we go, Mark,” Spader said. He held out his hand, Mark took it, and Spader hoisted him up behind him.
An arrow shot by, slicing the air between Gunny and Courtney.
“Can we go now?” Courtney asked.
In answer, Boon kicked his zenzen and charged off. The others followed, barely staying ahead of the wave of arrows.
It wasn’t the smooth start they had hoped for, but they were on their way to Black Water.
Bobby and Kasha climbed down the last tree before the city and approached the tall gates on the jungle floor. “How do we get in?” Bobby asked.
“I don’t know,” Kasha answered. “This is your plan, remember?”
“Don’t you have some secret way we can slip in without anybody seeing us?”
“No.”
“You’re not helping.”
“What can I say? I’ve never had to do this before.”
Their argument was interrupted by the sound of an approaching wagon. Bobby and Kasha saw that a group of foragers was returning with their day’s bounty. A single zenzen pulled a rickety wagon that was half full of fruit-a pitiful haul. The famine on Eelong was getting worse. Two klees led the wagon on foot. Two more followed. Bringing up the rear was a straggly pack of exhausted gars.
“Walk with the gars. Keep your head down,” she ordered, and sprang into the bushes.
“Hey!” Bobby yelled.
Too late. She was gone. Bobby didn’t have time to think. If he didn’t move right away, the opportunity would be gone. He quickly and quietly ran up behind the group of gars and nudged his way into the center. None of the gars looked at him. They were too tired. Bobby put his head down and shuffled along, pretending to be as exhausted as the others. He peeked forward to see the giant gates to Leeandra opening up. As long as none of the klee guards recognized him as Kasha’s gar, he’d be in. Bobby held his breath as they trudged through the gates. He expected an alarm to sound, or a rough paw on his shoulder pulling him back. But neither happened. The klee guards were too busy scanning the jungle in case a tang tried to rush the open gate.
Bobby kept walking with the gars until he heard the giant doors slam shut behind him. After a quick glance to the klee foragers to make sure they weren’t watching him, he leaped away from the group and hid behind a thick, flowering bush. He was in.
“Okay, now what?” he whispered to himself.
His answer came instantly. A dark shadow leaped in front of him, hitting the ground and nearly making him scream in surprise.
“That was easy,” Kasha declared.
“I thought you didn’t have a secret way in?”
“I didn’t,” replied the cat. “I crawled up the outside of the fence and climbed over.”
“And I couldn’t have done that?” Bobby asked.
Kasha held out her hand, showing her very sharp claws. “Not unless you’ve got a set of these.”
“Good point. Where can we find Ranjin?”
“It’s late. He should be in his home. He lives in the viceroy’s residence, above the Circle of Klee.”
The two of them made their way cautiously through Leeandra, keeping to the shadows.
“This is odd,” Kasha said. “The city is empty, even for this late hour.”
As they drew closer to the tree that held the Circle of Klee, the answer to why the city was so quiet, became clear. They heard the sounds of a noisy crowd coming from inside the tree.
“They’re having another meeting,” Bobby said. “Is there a way to listen in without being seen?
“Maybe,” Kasha answered.
They avoided the elevator. Instead they climbed a stairway inside the tree that led to a room behind the stage.
“This is where they dress in their robes before meetings,” Kasha explained.
“Are you serious?” Bobby exclaimed. “We’re in the lion’s den… for real.”
“Anywhere else we’d be seen,” Kasha said. She crept across the room and cautiously peered out a small window that looked onto the circle. Bobby joined her and saw they were quite close to the stage. The big room was once again full of klees. Onstage was the red-robed Council of Klee sitting in their chairs. On one side sat Ranjin in his deep blue tunic, clutching the wooden staff with the carved cat’s head on top. Standing at the edge of the stage, addressing the crowd, was Saint Dane in the form of Timber, the cat with dark brown fur, black spots and a long, perfectly combed mane.
“I’ve seen the truth,” Timber announced to the crowd with passion. “Black Water is not a fable concocted by desperate gars. It is real. And as sure as I stand before you today, the beasts who inhabit this secret lair have plans to change the future of Eelong.”
The crowd erupted angrily.
“He’s not lying,” Bobby whispered to Kasha. “The gars could change the future of Eelong. They could save it.”
“That’s not the way Timber made it sound.”
“Exactly,” Bobby said. “That’s how Saint Dane works.”
“Ending this problem would be simple,” Timber continued.
“I’m not suggesting a war, or to put klees in harm’s way. It would take only two klees to deliver the toxic gas to Black Water while the rest of us remain here in the safety of Leeandra. The brave klees would be out and back in a single afternoon, and our way of life would be preserved.”
The crowd murmured in agreement.
“This isn’t going so hot,” Bobby said nervously.
Ranjin, the viceroy, stood and quieted the crowd. “Explain to me how you came upon this poison gas, Timber,” he said.
“It was developed as a fertilizer,” was Timber’s answer. “The fact that it mutated into a poison was purely by accident… a fortunate accident that can mean the difference between life and death.”
“Again, the truth,” Bobby said. “Except that it mutated on Cloral. He left out that little nugget of information.”
“And using it would be the death of Eelong,” Kasha added. “He is very clever.”
“Forgive me for sounding like a weak old klee, but I have trouble ordering the extermination of so many gars,” Ranjin continued somberly.
